Junction cries out for traffic signals to stem accidents
Published:Saturday | April 22, 2023 | 12:07 AMAsha Wilks/Gleaner Writer
As the town’s population steadily grows, so have calls for the installation of traffic signals in the town centre of Junction, St Elizabeth.
Residents of the area have argued that the signals could reduce accidents as they regulate traffic.
Speaking with The Gleaner last week, Cetany Holness, councillor for the Junction division, noted that it has been 15 years since he has been appealing for the installation of traffic lights in the town, but those calls have fallen on deaf ears.
Johnson said that a team from the National Works Agency (NWA) visited the parish and toured the area with him and a justice of the peace (JP) over a decade ago to assess the situation.
“We made several visits and after those visits, the local NWA [representatives] from this parish were asked to make a comment as to the feasibility of the stop light in Junction and their comment is that it is not feasible,” he said.
Holness said the explanation given was because of concerns about a bump in the road coming from Bull Savannah into the town.
“So, I take them to task on it and I ask them to revisit the matter. ... They turned it down again to say it is not feasible ... [and] now they are using the taxi operators, [stating] that they take up a portion of the road and that the road is not wide enough. So, them change their views on the issue,” he explained further.
“I believe that they must come better because you are talking about [one of] the fastest-growing towns in Jamaica and when you look, [there are] thousands of people traversing to the town of Junction on a daily basis,” the councillor added.
When contacted, Stephen Shaw, manager of communication and customer service at the NWA, told The Gleaner that there is a great demand for traffic signals all over the island.
However, due to budgetary restrictions, the NWA is unable to install them in every area requiring them, Shaw said.
“Junction is just one of the many areas where requests would have been made, but yet to be actioned, owing to such a constraint,” he added.
Councillor Holness said that because of the absence of the lights to regulate the traffic flow, there have been many accidents in the area.
He referenced the January 8 accident involving motorcyclist Joshua Hanson and a motorist who made a right turn across the lane which Hanson was driving, causing him to slam into the side of the vehicle as an example to reinforce his point.
This crash caused extensive injuries to the spinal cord, multiple facial fractures, haemorrhage of the brain, a bilateral broken femur, and respiratory failure as reported in a January 16 Gleaner article.
“That guy was badly mashed up,” Holness lamented.
He continued that the area needed at least two stop lights “to save some lives”.
Kenneth Brown, chief engineering officer of roads and works at the St Elizabeth Municipal Corporation, informed The Gleaner that he and other members of the Traffic Authority had recently toured the Junction town centre and have identified several areas that they will, in short order, see the erection of the necessary traffic signs.
These signs will feature, among others, stop signs, no vending, and no parking signs. He continued by saying that new road markers will be created and that the ones that already existed would be painted over.