Shaquan O’Neil

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“We’re losing our men,” Senator Shaquan O’Neil told the Senate on Monday, citing Royal Police Force traffic statistics that showed a consistently high number of injured male drivers even as road collisions climbed annually.

The remark was part of the Senator’s maiden contribution to the Senator on Monday, where both sides discussed the Fatal Accidents Bill 2026.

O’Neil, the country’s youngest-ever senator, devoted much of his contribution to debate on the Fatal Accidents Bill 2026 to road safety statistics from the Royal Police Force’s Traffic Department.

Pointing to road collisions, which he says, has risen from 2,448 in 2023 to 2,610 in 2024 and 2,749 in 2025, he argued the number of injured male drivers, telling senators the country needed to make an intervention, whether through education or by encouraging male drivers directly to slow down on the road.

O’Neil also linked the rising cost of insurance premiums to road recklessness, citing regional figures showing insurers paid out $86.6 million in vehicle-related claims in 2024 alone, and argued responsible drivers end up absorbing the cost through higher premiums.

He called for wider use of dash cams to support police investigations and prosecutions, arguing footage can help identify reckless drivers caught on video, including those filmed overtaking multiple vehicles on roads such as Airport Road, All Saints Road and Factory Road.

“Once you have dash cams in your vehicles, you’re basically helping the police to crack down on individuals speeding on the road,” O’Neil said, adding that greater road safety education for young drivers was needed alongside the legislation’s compensation provisions.

Returning to the bill, the Senator stressed that there is a need for greater emphasis on support groups for victims’ families was needed alongside the bill’s bereavement provisions, telling the chamber that no amount of compensation could replace a life.

“It doesn’t matter the total compensation that a family gets,” Senator O’Neil said. “A million, two million, ten million, it can’t bring back someone to life.”