Jumping Hurdles at Parade

[Blackstar*]

JUMPING HURDLES
Photo by Norman Grindley


A man jumps over water which flooded sections of Parade in downtown Kingston,
during heavy rains on Monday (28 August 2006).

[Blackstar*]

Treasure Beach Roads



The pictures above show damaged sections of the main road leading into Treasure Beach, St. Elizabeth. - Contributed photos

Link

[Dr.Dudd]

Re: Jumping Hurdles at Parade

[ QUOTE ]
JUMPING HURDLES
Photo by Norman Grindley


A man jumps over water which flooded sections of Parade in downtown Kingston,
during heavy rains on Monday (28 August 2006).

[/ QUOTE ]
PaRADE HAS ALWAYS BEEN LIKE THAT WHENEVER IT RAINS heavily.
the drainage and sewer systems havw to bwe seperated as a start to relieve that problem,and bigger underground drains put in.
Incidentally this picture is not taken anywhere in parade.

[RichD]

Re: Jumping Hurdles at Parade

so where is it taken?

[evanovitch]

Re: Jumping Hurdles at Parade

[ QUOTE ]
so where is it taken?

[/ QUOTE ]

leave di statue...u a come rung fi up fi go Cross Roads...right as u a go leff out a Parade, dat is where it tek...

[mountaingal]

Re: Treasure Beach Roads

dem St. Bess Treasure beach road deh did bad from Ivan. mi drive dem couple weeks ago.

[jamaica_dreamin]

Re: Treasure Beach Roads

Yup. Those roads have been bad since Charlie. But Ivan really did them in. They'd be even worse if it wasn't for the residents patching them now and again.

[remo]

Re: Treasure Beach Roads

[ QUOTE ]


The pictures above show damaged sections of the main road leading into Treasure Beach, St. Elizabeth. - Contributed photos

Link


[/ QUOTE ]

This must be a JLP area?

[Blackstar*]

Road to Hell...



Political will and dangerous roads
published: Sunday | September 24, 2006

Representatives from the National Road Safety Council (NRSC), the Transport Authority, the Police Traffic Division and the National Works Agency are unanimous in their assessment: it is extremely dangerous to be a motorist or pedestrian on Jamaican roads.

In outlining their perspective at a Gleaner Editors' Forum last week, the representatives cited statistics to reinforce their concerns.

More than 70 per cent of the country's main roads are in a bad to deplorable condition which often contribute to fatal accidents; an estimated 70 per cent of Jamaican male drivers, according to a Pan American Health Organisation study, did not obtain their driver's licence by legitimate means; and, systems implemented a few years ago to mitigate accidents such as the police use of breathalyser equipment and their monitoring of offenders through the issuing of traffic tickets, have all broken down significantly.

While data from the NRSC point to a downward trend over the past four years in the number of fatalities resulting from road accidents - from 408 in 2002 to 326 last year - there clearly is a breakdown in the supporting administrative infrastructure to maintain this momentum.

Additionally, a well-established racket continues unabated - that of illiterates and untrained people being able to buy their driver's licence and for faulty motor cars to be declared fit without the vehicles being brought near an examination depot. Poor monitoring and the 'greasing' of palms allow many miscreants to slip through.

This situation is exacerbated by crater-filled roadways which are poorly maintained and inadequately repaired. Sometimes within two days of 'extensive repairs,' the road surfaces begin to collapse again. Clearly, either the workmen do not know what they are doing and are poorly supervised or substandard material is being used. Inevitably, the country pays a heavy price in lives and man-hours lost, as well as in tax dollars, to have the work done over.

Public education about the proper use of the road can go only so far. And yes, people have a responsibility to themselves. But the business of government is to ensure that there are functioning administrative systems and sanctions in place to deal with people who do not care to live within the ambit of the law.

There must be increased monitoring by the police to reduce reckless overtaking, especially by drivers of route taxis; there must be strict enforcement of alcohol limits (in riders, drivers, and pedestrians); and, there needs to be better lighting and visibility on our main thoroughfares.

The multisectoral effort requires that the Government make available the resources necessary for improved safety. As in so many other areas of national life, what is needed is the political will and the commitment to follow through on common sense and practical solutions to the problems that ail us.
__________________________________________________ _____________

Ticketing system needs makeover - Road Safety head
published: Sunday | September 24, 2006

Daraine Luton, Sunday Gleaner Reporter


AFTER MONTHS of keeping the matter close to the chest, road safety advocate Paula Fletcher can hold it no longer.

Mrs. Fletcher, the executive director of the National Road Safety Council (NRSC), a state agency, disclosed recently that the $50 million ticketing system implemented two years ago with a view to prosecuting delinquent motorists, has failed.

"With a ticketing system, you must have your database working.

"If you don't have information on who has been issued a ticket and how many tickets that person has, you can't have the penalties being enforced," Mrs. Fletcher argued during an Editors' Forum held at The Gleaner Company's central Kingston office on Thursday.

Mrs. Fletcher added that people have taken the government to court for recourse because the system fails to work.

Senior Superintendent of Police in charge of traffic, Ealan Powell, reported that the police have serious constraints in the execution of their duties related to issuing traffic tickets. He has, however, pledged to do their best with the existing resources.

Ailing programmes
Meanwhile, it is not just the ticketing system that has not worked.

Mrs. Fletcher said the breathalyser programme, implemented to minimise incidence of drunk driving, was ailing.

"The programme is not working because the instruments are defective and need to be replaced," she complained.

She is advocating amendments to the Spirit Licence Act, which she believes will reduce drunk driving, especially among young partygoers who drive miles to consume liquor and listen to music.

The NRSC head has also called for increased professional conduct in the way the island traffic Authority is operated.

Basing her statements on a recent Pan American Health Organisation study which found that nearly 71 per cent of male drivers in Jamaica sampled had not done the appropriate driver's test, she says the authorities need to find a way to reduce corrupt practices such as the certification of unfit motor vehicles and the selling of drivers licences.

Organisation needed
"We need to look seriously at the way we train our drivers and how we certify cars to drive on the road," she said.

Mrs. Fletcher also called for investment in electronic surveillance systems. She stated that the NRSC has proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Act. These proposals aim to address the way pedestrians and cyclists use highways.

Also included in the proposed legislation is a move to remove dark tints from vehicles, setting a standard for tyres, and a recommendation to control the use of cellular phones while driving.
__________________________________________________ _________________________

Road deaths could rise to level of HIV/AIDS
published: Sunday | September 24, 2006

Daraine Luton, Sunday Gleaner Reporter


DEATH is likely to come knocking in one of three forms if you are between the ages of five and 29 years - motor vehicle injuries, child cluster diseases and HIV/AIDS.

According to a joint World Health Organisation (WHO)/World Bank report, these are the leading causes of deaths worldwide based on 2002 statistics.

The report says road traffic injuries is the second leading cause of death in the five-14 age group behind childhood cluster diseases.

In the age 15-29 cohort, road fatalities comes second behind HIV/AIDS and third behind HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis in the 30-44 age group as the cause of death. This trend has caused the United Nations to believe the so-called silent killer, motor vehicle injuries, could eclipse HIV/AIDS as the world's leading traumatic killer by the year 2020.

Growing pandemic worldwide
Dr. Lucien Jones, who presented the WHO/World Bank document at a Gleaner Editors' Forum recently, warned that road deaths in the island could reach alarming levels if an active attempt is not made to stem what is now considered a growing pandemic worldwide. Already, 246 persons have been killed on the nation's roads this year in 214 fatal accidents, compared to 326 killed last year... More
__________________________________________________ __________________

Traffic accidents costly
published: Sunday | September 24, 2006


In Jamaica, road traffic accidents are beginning to burden the country's resources. The Ministry of Health says between 1.5 and two per cent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) was spent caring for patients with road traffic injuries last year. The estimated economic cost worldwide is between US$64.5 and US$100 billion.

"Road travel brings society benefits, but the price society is paying for it is very high," a recent study by the World Health Organi-sation (WHO) points out.

Dr. Lucien Jones, vice-president of the National Road Safety Council, who recently returned from a road safety summit for Latin American and the Caribbean countries in Costa Rica, says it is the world's resolve to minimise this ill.

"The world community is deter-mined that we are not going to go the route of what happened with the HIV/AIDS crisis where the world reacted too slowly," he asserts.

The WHO report says that every three minutes a child dies on the world's roads, numbering among the 3,000 people daily. Many of these people, the study says, are pedestrians, pedal cyclists and motorcyclists.

Speaking at the forum, Ealan Powell, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) in charge of traffic, says poor engineering, lack of education and enforcement handicaps are the major contributors to road traffic accidents.

The police officer says many accidents on highways are either head-on collisions, the hitting down of a pedestrian or one motorist running into the side of another. He suggests the building of buffers and pedestrian passages on all highways.

SSP Powell has also expressed the need for proper lighting and signs on the nation's road, which he says are not safe.

Police on a mission
SSP Powell says the police are on a mission to reduce road fatalities. Despite conceding that the 280,000 traffic tickets issued last year suggests that people are not taking road safety seriously, he says the police have embarked on a programme to prosecute people for not using protective devices such as seat belts and helmets.

Similarly, the Road Safety Unit at the Ministry of Health, the Transport Authority and the Jamaica Automobile Association (JAA) say they are doing their bit to ensure lives are saved and injuries are prevented on the roads.

Mr. Allan Beckford, the association's president, says they have embarked on a 'Think Before You Drive' campaign which is geared toward a reduction in road accidents.

The programme involves en-couraging the use of seat belts, discouraging drunk driving and speeding. The JAA also says paying careful attention to the condition of tyres is important, and, accordingly, has commenced the distribution of 100,000 tyre pressure gauges, noting that over or underinflation of tyres may lead to accidents.

In the meantime, Petra-Keane Williams, communication and customer services manager at the Traffic Authority, says additional examiners have been called up from the Island traffic authority to supplement their number in a bid to help monitor the fitness and operation of public passenger vehicles.

[Tuff Gong]

Re: Jumping Hurdles at Parade

Again the PNP has a problem with technology, it was like this in the 70s.

[Dr.Dudd]

Re: Road to Hell...

Until the government repeal the backward policy that refuses a drivers license to illiterates,this will never change.
they allow illterates from al other countries with drivers license to drive in Jamaica,why don't they allow the locals?

this is why they have street signs. so that drivers won't have to read.Which driver have time to read in adition to avoid the craters posing as pot holes while driving?

[Blackstar*]

Re: Road to Hell...

Crash kills five
published: Tuesday | October 17, 2006

Stephanie Elliot, Gleaner Writer


The Nissan Vannete van at the Four Paths Police Station, Clarendon, that was involved in a fatal motor vehicle crash with a Toyota Corolla motor car along the Osbourne Store main road in the parish yesterday. The crash claimed the lives of five people. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer

Five persons died tragically in a two-vehicle collision along the Osbourne Store main road in Clarendon yesterday, while three were hospitalised; two in serious condition.

Those killed are: James Stanley of Reading, St. James; his 18-year-old granddaughter, Dadrian Patterson of East Kirkland Heights, St. Andrew; Lola Dwyer and her son Andel Smith of Spanish Town, St. Catherine.

The fifth person, a woman, was not identified up to press time.

The injured have been identified as Dionette Dwyer-Chin of Spanish Town, Paul McBean and Jermaine McBean, both of Glen Drive, Kingston.

According to Corporal Llewelyn Wynter of the Four Paths Police Station, shortly after eight o'clock yesterday morning a rented motor car driven by Mr. Stanley with his grand-daughter and the unidentified female passenger, was travelling in an easterly direction from Mandeville. Stanley overtook a line of traffic along the Osbourne Store main road and collided with a Nissan Vannette van, which was travelling in the opposite direction with five persons aboard including Dwyer-Chin, who was driving.

The collision claimed five lives on the spot. When The Gleaner arrived at the scene, the trapped bodies could still be seen among the mangled remains of the motor vehicles.

The bodies were eventually removed by firemen from the May Pen fire station, with the assistance of residents.

One resident who was on the scene said he heard a loud collision and he ran in the direction of the sound. He said he saw persons trapped in both vehicles and one of them lying in the middle of the road.

He said, the van caught fire shortly afterwards but residents broke a main pipe along the main road to extinguish the fire.

"If dat never do, a pure burn up somebody yuh would come find out here," he said.

Relatives of Dwyer-Chin, including her husband, were at a loss for words. They however related that she was on her way to Spaulding, Manchester to pick up a relative.

Meanwhile, other relatives of the dead refused to comment as they were overcome with grief.

This is the second fatal accident to occur in two days. On Sunday, 22 year-old Kemar Smythe was killed and two persons injured in a car crash on the Alpart main road in St. Elizabeth.