A bus transporting hotel employees hit a big-rig truck that was broken down on the roadside on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2014, leaving eight people dead and several others injured. More than 40 people were on board the bus at the time of the collision, most of whom were hotel workers who had recently finished their shifts at a resort in the town of Bavaro and were heading home from work. The ages and identities of those who were killed have not been released. It is not yet clear whether the big-rig was blocking the road, nor is it known whether charges will be filed as a result of the collision.
The accident happened near Punta Cana, an area noted for the high volume of tourists that it draws. Punta Cana is located in the east portion of the Dominican Republic. It is not known whether drugs or alcohol played a role in this accident. Traffic accidents such as this one occur with startling regularity in the Dominican Republic, with some hospitals treating as many as 120 of the country’s 11 million inhabitants per day for injuries incurred during a road accident.
Traffic safety is a major concern in the island nation, as citizens are often reported as driving without regard for speed limits or other traffic laws, with many failing to signal when turning or changing lanes, failing to stop at red lights and stop signs, and some even driving against the flow of traffic on the wrong side of the road. Dominican traffic officials say that alcohol is a factor in many of the road accidents that they see.
Traffic-related deaths are the number one killer of males in the Dominican Republic, and according to statistics released by the World Health Organization, 41.7 deaths in the Dominican Republic per 100,000 are due to traffic accidents.