Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer.
A wrecker crew prepares to move a Toyota Coaster bus from the scene of an accident at the intersection of Old Hope Road and Mountain View in Kingston 6 earlier this year.
Peter Weller and Sharon Williams Brown, Contributors
In Jamaica, we are very good at hindsight but less so at foresight. Glaring examples of this statement exist when it comes to traffic situations in the Kingston 6 and 7 areas.
There is the potential for serious accidents causing death or injury. These could be prevented by simple measures such as relocating bus stops and putting in pedestrian crossings but, as so often happens, we seem to be waiting for a tragedy to occur before we take action.
The lack of pedestrian crossings on Old Hope Road between Papine and Liguanea puts life and limb at risk. Consider the following:
When people walk out of Sovereign to cross to the major bus stop at the Post Office Mall near Courts there is no pedestrian crossing - people, apparently, are expected to walk up the narrow footpath to the traffic lights and even then there is no marked pedestrian crossing - and limited signage at this major intersection - accident waiting to happen! When people are walking down to Lane Plaza from the Bank of Nova Scotia end, the new fence (attractive as it might be) means that you actually have to step into the road in order to enter the plaza. Given that there is now no u-turn at Matilda's Corner more vehicles now use the plaza as a thoroughfare - accident waiting to happen! Moving further up Old Hope Road - across from the U.S. Embassy - large vehicles now park along the median of the road blocking vision of those cars coming down Mona Road and trying to turn up Old Hope Road. At Welcome Plaza people are still trying to exit to cross over to the Mona Road turn-off - numerous accidents have taken place yet the median has not been extended to prevent this risky behaviour that puts others at risk - accident waiting to happen! Where are the pedestrians, especially the school children, supposed to cross at that junction? At Jamaica College hundreds of students (from JC and Mona High) must cross the busy road between the two bus stops - where is the pedestrian crossing? Are they supposed to walk up to the Hope Pastures traffic lights and then back down? If so where is the signage? Do they know? - accident waiting to happen! At the intersection near the Scientific Research Council and Garden Boulevard/Mon a new road and traffic lights have been positioned but with no new pedestrian crossing identified!
At the upper end of Old Hope Road, near Hope United and Mona Prep, there are large numbers of school children coming, especially from Mona Primary, who apparently are expected to walk back down to the lights by Mona Prep and wait to cross if they want to get to the bus stop. Where are the signs? Do they know this? - accident waiting to happen! If these children walk up to Papine they then must walk across roads at a very busy intersection with ambulances, racing students, rushing taxis and not a pedestrian crossing or sign in sight after you pass the University of Technology (UTech). How are they to cross to Golding Avenue? If they cross at UTech they will still have to cross again at Papine to access most bus stops. Add to the lack of pedestrian crossings, the speed with which drivers race on Old Hope Road and it is very obvious that lives are endangered many times each day.
Anyone who is heading for the University Hospital of the West Indies carrying someone with a life-threatening emergency has to pray that there is not a long line of traffic caused by buses and taxis stopped at the hospital gate. It is quite possible that lives may be lost while people are impeded by the traffic there. Moving the bus-stops so that both are well below the driving entrance (that is making them closer to the campus and not the Papine side), and putting in a pedestrian entrance could save lives. Perhaps an ambulance and pedestrian entrance with a secure (fenced) driveway could be constructed closer to the Papine Square allowing these emergency vehicles access to the hospital and providing safe passage for pedestrians heading to and from the hospital. Also in the Papine area, the lack of road markings present a real challenge to drivers and pedestrians. There are no markings to indicate how many lanes exist coming around the perpetually-crowded Papine square. In addition, there is no indication of where a driver must stop when making turns at the various intersections e.g. to Gordon Town Road and to Golding Avenue. Another trouble spot is the 'ackee tree roundabout' outside the Irvine Hall Entrance to UWI. As the buses, taxis and other drivers navigate this area, most do not seem to know that as one approaches the UWI along Golding, one is supposed to keep left around the 'roundabout' and merge with traffic coming up from Elletson Flats before entering UWI - accident waiting to happen, which a simple sign would fix!We urge the Minister of Transport and Works to give immediate attention to these matters, where simple low-cost changes can save lives, especially if the major educational institutions and other interested parties in the community are involved.
Peter Weller and Sharon Williams Brown are psychologists, at the University of the West Indies, Mona.
