Gorge guardian angels lobby for change
Published:Monday | May 2, 2022 | 12:08 AMRasbert Turner /Gleaner Writer
With her mother’s death numbered among at least 33 along the Bog Walk gorge in St Catherine in the last decade, Elorine Smith said she has not used the stretch of road since the 2021 tragedy.
Valerie Ennis, 59, died in a crash last June and the pain lingers, said her grieving daughter.
“We were so close that I am still in shock. I was waiting on her at my business place and what arrived was the sad news,” Smith said in a Gleaner interview on Saturday.
Smith said the incident has, however, strengthened her resolve to advocate for behaviour and infrastructural change along the roadway and she feels honoured to be part of the pressure group Guardians of the Gorge.
The initiative has been established to galvanise support to lessen the carnage on the thoroughfare that wends its way from Angels along the Rio Cobre and exits near the foothills of Sligoville.
The gorge has been notorious for driver indiscipline, especially speeding and overtaking.
Committee chairperson Patrina Nelson, a teacher, said it was the fatal injury of student Ricardo Stephenson in a crash that led to the formation of the community organisation.
“I lost a former student in an accident there and it was painful for me. So, after writing to a newspaper outlining my thoughts, I also made recommendations on possible changes. These ideas have resulted in the formation of the Guardians of the Gorge,” Nelson said at Saturday’s launch of the Bog Walk Gorge Road Safety Campaign, held at Angels Baptist Church.
Volunteer Delgado ‘Dainty’ Smith said that he was thankful for the recognition given to him and his peers who have been guardian angels along the much-feared corridor.
“We work round the clock jumping off into the river to save lives, so mi pleased to see that dem recognise we,” Smith said.
“I can remember, last year during the lockdown, I jumped in the river to save a man from a car. I remember, as the man has my last name and I had to use a belt to tie up him two broken legs. I then carried him to hospital and him live and a feel good. So we are doing it from our hearts,” Smith said.
During the launch, the Madge Lewis Foundation presented divers with life jackets, along with plaques and other tokens of appreciation.
Deidre Hudson-Sinclair, director of the Road Safety Unit, said the volunteers are heroes and heroines who continue to save lives, at risk of losing their own.
She confirmed that 33 deaths have been recorded in the gorge since 2012. It was also revealed that 13, or 39 per cent, have been caused by excess speeding.
“St Catherine has the unenviable record of most fatalities in the last five years, and of the 143 so far [this year], 24 are for St Catherine.
“As for the divers, we cannot pay you, but we are pleased to see that you are there daily and ready at a moment’s notice to save lives.”
Hudson-Sinclair also renewed a call for guardrails to be placed along Flat Bridge, a crash hotspot, and argued for targeted behaviour change in driving habits.
St Catherine North Central Member of Parliament Natalie Neita-Garvey thanked the divers for their support and promised to offer assistance.
Neita-Garvey has urged the National Works Agency to place emphasis on rigorous road maintenance in the gorge, which she believes would alleviate the crash crisis.
There have been appeals for the installation of reflectors, proper signage, bush clearing, and the provision of diving equipment for volunteers.
Statistics from the Road Safety Unit reveal that 487 persons died in crashes in 2021, a 12 per cent rise over the 433 recorded the previous year.