Hanover top cop joins calls to fix potholes in parish
Published:Tuesday | October 8, 2024 | 12:08 AMBryan Miller/Gleaner Writer
Western Bureau:
Superintendent Andrew Nish, the police commander for Hanover, is appealing to motorists to use the roadways across the parish wisely as the deplorable state of the roads, which are littered with potholes, is leading to congestion among other issues.
“The road surface has deteriorated, and not just the road surface leading in and out of Lucea, but also along the Sandy Bay and Hopewell main roads. The roads were further damaged by the continuous rainfall over the past couple of days, so I urging motorists to be patient,” said Nish in a recent interview with The Gleaner.
According to Nish, the police are always doing their very best to alleviate the gridlock along the roadway, which is quite time-consuming and as such, he is seeking the cooperation of the motoring public to play their part in limiting the scope for congestion.
“We are doing everything within our powers to alleviate the situation so as to cut down on any long waiting time, so we are just asking motorists to be patient,” said Nish.
In speaking to the large number of potholes across the parish, Nish said motorists should be particularly careful when traversing the roadways, especially at night, when it is more difficult to spot the potholes, especially those filled with water.
Over recent months, motorists have been appealing to the authorities to fix the potholes across Hanover as, in addition to causing damage to their vehicles, there have been several accidents caused by motorists trying to skip potholes and crashing into other vehicles.
The pothole situation has got worse over recent weeks as the heavy rains have not only made the old potholes much deeper but created new ones.
“I am asking the motorists to be cautious while they are traversing the roadways, especially at nights, because these potholes can cause a puncture tyre, and they can also cause a loss of life,” said Nish, who earlier this year complained that the potholes were affecting crime fighting as it was slowing down the police’s response time when they are called to crime scenes.
While not singling out any particular agency, Nish said he was hoping that his plea to have the road conditions addressed will be heard by the right people and will generate a speedy response.
Yesterday, residents of Burnt Ground in the parish engaged the police in a game of cat and mouse for most of the day as they tried to block the main road to and from Montego Bay, St James, to highlight the atrocious state of the roads in their community.
“I hope the agencies hear our pleas and move speedily to address the road condition in the parish as soon as possible,” said Nish. “In the meantime, I am urging motorists to operate within the speed limit and apply defensive driving principles as much as possible.