Improper behaviour

I read with some alarm the letter you published on December 27 titled 'Firearms as ID', relating the incident of a man in plainclothes using a firearm to bring a motorist to a halt for committing a traffic offence.

I know that laws differ here in many aspects from those in Jamaica - some better, some worse. One better is the one here that permits a traffic stop by an officer only if he or she is in a marked police vehicle and in uniform.

This does not mean that a police officer in an unmarked vehicle would ignore an obvious traffic violator. What he could not do is to assert his power without having a marked vehicle intervene to make the stop.

It is obviously a sensible measure which I believe Jamaica should provide, especially in view of the state of crime there now.

Allan Alberga

allanalberga@aol.com

Atlanta, Georgia

Paint job for road signs

Why aren't there more properly maintained white lines on our roads?

These help to guide motorists in using the road safely, and also greatly assist in aligning traffic patterns that ease the flow of traffic along our roads.

Surely, the cost of a continuing line painting programme is significantly less than that incurred from unnecessary accidents, and the antisocial spin-off behaviour from frustrated motorists.

It should be noted, also, that pedestrians frequently step out into the road, without a care, at hard-to-detect crossings, with faded lines that are all but invisible to oncoming drivers.

Maurice Cooke

cookemjm@yahoo.com

Kingston 8

Athlete of the year

Your December 24 story 'Bolt sprints away with T&F News' top award' needed to note, for the benefit of all your readers, that the so-called 'athlete of the year' award referred to is a United States (US) tradition, and so it is unlikely that they will select a non-US, especially a T&F, athlete as the winner.

Such was the case with the Sports Illustrated magazine (another US publication), 'athlete of the year' award made recently, for which Michael Phelps was the declared winner. In that issue, for which the swimmer graced the cover, the lead story dared to state that Phelps was the undisputed winner with no one even close. Give me a break.

Why then should we raise expectations that this case will be any different. Leave the Americans to indulge in the glory of their own construction. The rest of the world recognise Bolt as the true athlete of the year.

Clare Forrester

antoye@yahoo.com

Widcombe Rd

Kingston