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Monday, December 22, 2025
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Road carnage: 40% of Nassau hit by accidents By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net SOME 40 percent of New Providence residents have revealed they or a close family member have been involved in a traffic accident within the past five years, leading an Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) report to brand Bahamian road safety as “a significant public policy issue”. The frequency of vehicle crashes is disclosed in a study conducted by the multilateral lender on the Nassau ‘school run’, which analysed the negative social and economic impacts for Bahamian families from increased traffic congestion; deteriorating and inadequate infrastructure such as pedestrian sidewalks; reckless driving and the failure to properly enforce the traffic laws; and unreliable public transportation (jitney) services. Besides the traffic-related dangers, crime and the fear of children being caught up in crime represented the greatest fear for Bahamian parents interviewed by IDB researchers through ‘focus groups’ and surveys. Some 75.6 percent, or more than three-quarters, voiced concern about becoming a victim of robbery, while 88 percent expressed fears about
• IDB: School commute crime fear unnerving some 88% of parents • School run expenses ‘consume half’ of lower income family budgets • ‘System isn’t designed for the poor; it’s designed for those who have’ being exposed to crime in general during the school commute. All these factors, together with “harassment” of female students by jitney drivers and older pupils, were said by the report to have driven ever-increasing numbers of parents to drop-off and pick-up their children from school themselves. And, with this burden falling disproportionately on Bahamian women, the report added that having to take time out from the working day is resulting in reduced productivity and lost economic opportunities for many. The IDB study, entitled ‘Navigating school journeys: Barriers and enablers for children and caregivers in Nassau, Bahamas’, said lower income households suffer the greatest financial effects from transportation deficiencies related to the
Print shop owner loses $266k insurance battle By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net A PRINT shop owner’s bid to obtain $266,000 in damages against a Bahamian insurer for failing to pay-out and cover losses associated with Hurricane Irma’s passage in September 2017 has been dismissed by the Supreme Court. Justice Loren Klein, in a December 11, 2025, verdict rejected the claim by Ronald Deveaux, proprietor of Bahamas Rubber Stamp Printing, for breach of contract and negligence against Security & General Insurance Company
by finding that what caused rainfall from the storm to enter his business was an “excepted peril” or excluded under the terms of the insurance policy. Mr Deveaux had alleged that the water intrusion resulted from unknown persons trying to break into his business through the roof between Friday, September 8, 2017, and the following day, which created a hole that allowed Irma’s rainfall to enter and damage both his machinery and stock. He argued that the hole was the key cause, but Justice Klein sided with the property and
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‘Meaningful reductions’ in property coverage unlikely By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net INSURERS are warning Bahamian businesses and homeowners that there are unlikely “to be meaningful reductions” in property coverage costs in 2026 after the multi-billion dollar damages inflicted on Jamaica by Hurricane Melissa gave their key partners pause for though. Several local property and casualty underwriters told Tribune Business that reinsurance treaty renewal negotiations have extended
into Christmas week after the impact of the Category Five storm on the southern Caribbean nation prompted that sector to take a second look at the pricing and capacity it is willing to make available to The Bahamas and the region for next year. Timothy Ingraham, chief executive of Summit Insurance Company, through which Insurance Management places much of its property and casualty business, said that while “the picture will become
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morning and afternoon commutes. It added that “limited household budgets” have resulted in costs related to the school run competing with essential expenses such as food and utility bills. “The findings consistently underscore how socioeconomic status shapes exposure and vulnerability to school transportation barriers,” the report, which had six authors, asserted. “Families with fewer resources disproportionately struggle with unreliable public transportation, longer and more dangerous commutes, and the direct costs of transportation. “As one janitor bluntly stated: ‘The system isn’t designed for the poor; it’s designed for those who already
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‘Nominal’ 50 cent sugary drinks tax can raise millions • National Health Strategy ‘no pie in sky wish list’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net IMPOSING just a “nominal” 50 cent tax on sugary drinks would raise “millions” towards closing The Bahamas’ public healthcare financing shortfall, a Cabinet minister disclosed yesterday, while asserting of the new National Health Strategy: “It’s not a pie in the sky wish list.” Dr Michael Darville, minister of health and wellness, told Tribune Business via a series of messaged replies to this newspaper that levying extra taxation on alcohol and tobacco products - as well as sugary drinks - “in such a way that they impact the affordability of these vices” - remains one option open to the Government for closing a healthcare funding deficit that is estimated to be at $24m in the upcoming 20262027 fiscal year.
DR MICHAEL DARVILLE He added that studies conducted in partnership with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and World Bank have already been conducted to determine how much revenue could be generated from a tax specifically focused on sugary drinks, which are viewed as significant contributors to the high level of diabetes, obesity and other chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) that
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