Marlon Vickerman, Gleaner Writer

Onlookers view a Nissan Sunny that was in an accident with a Honda Integra on the Spanish Town bypass on February 1. No one was seriously injured. The first UN global road safety week was observed from April 23-29 with the slogan 'Road Safety Is No Accident.' - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer

'Munchie', who lives off the Spanish Town Bypass in St. Catherine, will never forget July 1, 2006. It was this day that her two babies, now two and four, lives nearly ended.

A motorist had stopped along the bypass, in the vicinity of Mainland International Limited, to allow the young mother (Munchie) to cross to the other side with her two children. Just as she was making her way across, a speeding SUV, whose driver was not paying attention to the fact that the car in front had stopped to allow for pedestrians crossing, overtook the motorcar and charged into Munchie and her babies. Mother and children were out cold. They had to be rushed to the Spanish Town Hospital. The babies were later transferred to the Bustamante Hospital for Children.

As is normally the case in hit and run incidents, the driver of the SUV kept on running after the near fatal hit. However, he stopped at the Denham Town Police Station to report the incident.

21 days in hospital

The young mother spent 21 days in the hospital before she was released and except for one of the babies now walking with a limp, they are fine. However, Munchie still has fears of crossing the Spanish Town bypass and even to this day, she will not do so unless accompanied by a trusted friend or family member.

Not many others were as lucky as this young mother. Vendors in the area say that most of the accidents that they have witnessed along the stretch, similar to the sort that Munchie experienced, are always fatal.

Carlene Maragh, who has been living along the bypass for the past 17 years, has lost a friend and a neighbour in separate accidents on the thoroughfare. In addition, she has witnessed many others. "I think it was about two or more years ago I saw a truck write off the overhead bridge that was out here! See it there, all now it can't go back up," Maragh said. "Many people also get hit off their bicycles and get hit when them trying to cross the road out here all the time".

She made mention of a crash in the late 1990's when a friend, 'Elaine' was killed and another in which a man was knocked off his bicycle by a speeding motorist in the March Pen Road region.

Pedestrians

From observing the movements of the pedestrians along the notorious bypass, it was obvious that they knew the road's reputation and made no laughing matter of getting across it. A lady, who clearly was over 50 years old, accomplished this task in true Olympic manner. She stood on the side of the road with a facial expression as focused and emotionless an a 100m sprinter. She looked left and right (3 times), then in the blink of an eye she bolted out the starting blocks. After reaching the opposite side, she graciously flipped her ruffled hair from her face and strolled off.