Letter of the Day | Orange District roads are risky 'racetrack'
Published:Thursday | July 26, 2018 | 12:00 AM
THE EDITOR, Sir:
This letter is to make the authorities aware that subsequent to the repairs of the roads running through Orange District, Sign PO, Montego Bay, there has been very dangerous and reckless speeding, specifically on the bottom road that leads to Latium.
Motorists have taken advantage of the smooth road surface to drive at treacherous speeds, which puts themselves, pedestrians and other motorists at risk of a fatal accident. Many times, pedestrians are seen standing still at the edge of the road in frantic anticipation of possibly having to dodge an oncoming speeding motorist who may lose control.
In one instance, a group of individuals who were observed cleaning debris from the road was nearly hit by a speeding motorist. What followed thereafter was a barrage of expletives.
RESIDENTS A TRISK
Persons living by the roadside are also at risk, because there is no structure in place to act as a barrier to prevent vehicles from running off the road and slamming into their homes and crushing them to death should the driver lose control.
This is especially worrying because drivers of truck tractors, flatbed trucks, and Coaster buses are among the speedsters. It is unimaginable that anyone can survive being rammed into by a speeding vehicle of such size.
Furthermore, the roads are quite narrow, allowing two vehicles to only just pass each other with a few inches to spare. There are also blind curves whereby motorists have resorted to honking their horn excessively while speeding, in an attempt to alert oncoming vehicles or pedestrians.
DANGEROUS PRACTICE
However, under such road conditions, honking a horn while still speeding around a blind curve does nothing to ensure safer navigation. In fact, that may cause sudden panic for the other unsuspecting motorist or a pedestrian and the practise is a nuisance for persons who live along the road.
The authorities should urgently address the matter by ways of constructing speed bumps, reverse speed bumps, or speed humps along the roads in the aforementioned location. It should be assumed that speed limit signs are utterly useless because delinquent drivers will not obey them.
THE WRITER