Garth Rattray | The pothole that put a $57,900 dent

It started out as a quiet Sunday morning drive from Kingston to Oracabessa. My wife Joan and I decided to take the old road to Bog Walk, stop for breakfast, and then join the North South (Luxury) Highway for the rest of the way to the north coast.

I was driving at a moderate speed along the Mandela Highway, about 70 kilometres per hour. I had been dodging many potholes and several sinks along the way, from Spanish Town Road, when two rather large and sharp-edged potholes appeared. I managed to circumvent them. But then I wasn’t able to avoid the car from hitting a very jarring third one … Raddam! Raddam! I immediately felt the steering pull to the right and the car became difficult to control. I was glad that I was not driving fast.

Both the right front and rear tyres were totally flat, and the rims were slightly damaged. We were immobilised by one of those large, sharp-edged potholes. We called a tow truck (wrecker). The driver took us to Portmore where a tyre outlet is open on Sundays. Our auto insurance company discounts the wrecker fee … that, plus the bill for replacing those two tyres came up to $57,900. That’s not chicken feed for me, and it’s almost an entire month’s salary for someone earning minimum wage. All that money, just for one pothole!

We were to meet someone in Oracabessa, so it stung that, because of that pothole, our time was spent on the damaged tyres. It was painful because we are taxpayers and, like the rest of the people of this country, we are not getting value for our money. Some of the taxes on our expensive fuel are supposed to go towards maintaining our roads, so what’s going on?

I was not surprised when the wrecker driver explained that he and his colleagues have towed many cars from Mandela Highway because of the potholes. Like me, several have had multiple flats, others had front end damage that crippled their vehicles, and yet others crashed because they tried to evade the potholes and collided with other vehicles.

It is unacceptable and insulting that many Jamaican roads are extremely rough and uneven. There is constant shaking, bouncing, and vibrating on our roads. Some roads have chasms. Some importers of new vehicles have to specify ‘rough road’ suspension from the manufacturers, all because of our roads.

It always takes an inordinately long time for our potholes, scoured out channels, and mini canals left by the National Water Commission to be repaired or filled in. The only time that there is alacrity in repairing our roads is when a local government or general election is near. That’s when there is a flurry of activities designed to appease and pull the wool over the eyes of the electorate.

Drainage is inadequate

When the roads are patched, the surface is left uneven and quickly deteriorates. Since many properties are paved, and the storm water drainage is inadequate, the streets flood, and also provide the runoff whenever it rains. The substandard road surfaces are not resistant to any challenge from rainwater and overloaded trucks.

The National Works Agency (NWA) doesn’t want to hear anything from our citizens. The second to last time that I, as a very concerned citizen, made public my apprehension about the work being done on a project, their communications manager, Stephen Shaw, responded in this paper by calling me “ignorant”. It is noteworthy that the very things that I complained about, and was reprimanded for, came to pass. There is flooding in sections of the Hagley Park Road corridor, and several areas sank.

Potholes, rough surfaces, denuded sections, and sunken areas on the roads are far more than just uncomfortable inconveniences, they force road users to do a lot of unnecessary spending, but more importantly, they are dangerous. Jamaica’s road surfaces are not subjected to regular and frequent inspection, proper maintenance, and rehabilitation. We pay for and deserve much better treatment.

FELT VULNERABLE

While waiting on that lonely stretch of the highway, we felt very vulnerable but counted our blessings. The damage could have been more severe, both rims could also have been badly damaged. We could have crashed. Opportunistic criminals could have attacked us. The double blowout could have occurred during the dark, or in pouring rain. Fortunately, we could afford the tow truck fee. We worried about women travelling alone, especially at night.

The World Bank classifies Jamaica as an upper middle-income country, and we are [ostensibly] experiencing ‘prosperity’. It is blatantly obvious that the authorities responsible for monitoring the state of our roads, identifying problems and effecting repairs (the NWA and/or the relevant municipalities) are uncaring, inefficient and unaccountable to anyone. Necessary, and even urgent road repairs take weeks, months, or years. We are being treated with disdain and constantly endangered by the deplorable state of our roads, yet our elected and responsible officials are unconcerned.

Who is overseeing the quality of road repairs? Why are the inefficient contractors doing sub-standard work repeatedly being awarded contracts? Don’t they realise that bad road surfaces cause more than expensive vehicle repairs, they sometimes cost lives? What are our elected officials doing about the horrible and insulting state of the Jamaican roads?

Politicians should take note, good and effective ‘campaigning’ must not be confined to electioneering, it is all about doing a good job and being of service to our citizens. I pray that someone is paying attention, hopefully, the $57,900 I ended up spending will not go in vain.

Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and garthrattray@gmail.com