Dear Editor,
The Police Traffic Department in Linden from all indications is certainly not taxed with work; in fact it would appear to be starved of it. This is why it is difficult to understand why the little things that are required cannot be done, moreso given that these functions are basic no-brainers, and do not require heavy financial cost. Here are a few observations: Why can’t traffic signs remain at all times to reduce unnecessary speeding/reckless driving? Where necessary more humps should be placed at selected spots, and I want to endorse Dr Joseph Haynes’s observation that illuminating marks should be placed on all humps to highlight them at night, not only for the unsuspecting visitors to the community, but also for pedestrians who are often stumbling on them. Visitors/strangers to this town should instantly via traffic signs be informed of one-way streets; and we need decent road signs that can help enhance the appearance of the town and not just any piece of discarded scrap metal painted over and mounted. What of replacing the ‘Keep left’ signs at the roundabout by the library/Lichas which is used by some riders/drivers without regard? But how odd it is, if not ridiculous that a stop sign that has been erected at the corner of Bulletwood Street and Harder Road – in the mouth of where the Linden Police Station is situated – has been reduced to a twisted piece of rusty scrap iron, leaning there for ages!
What do traffic policemen look for when on the beat? What of the blind turns, can’t they be addressed? I have pointed out before the problem at the corner at Greenheart Street and Harder Road bordering the MSC basketball court and again in full view of the police station. Why can’t the concrete portion of the fence be removed and be replaced with expansion wire fencing? Or is it we are awaiting a fatal accident as a justification to do so? At the corner of Dageraad Avenue and Sir David Rose Avenue crossing over into the Constab is another point in question, where on both sides of the corner vision is obscured, and since Damon Ave has now been preserved as an ecological and low carbon area I will not comment, because it has been abandoned.
But shouldn’t there be some illumination at night along the David Rose Ave, which because of the heavy presence of bamboo trees and vegetation on the opposite side (Constab) has made the darkness threatening? Can’t the Traffic Department not make recommendations for humps to be placed at spots they consider dangerous? Does the Traffic Department still conduct road safety programmes frequently at schools as once used to be? And by the way, is the campaign against loud music in minibuses over? Have they successfully accomplished this goal, or was it just another flash in the pan exercise? For what reason is the Police Force and its Traffic Department still overlooking not only loud music but lewd music while transporting schoolchildren? Have we lost every sense of decency?
And finally, if there is one critical spot that needs urgent attention, it is the five-corner junction at Sir David Rose Ave, Harder Road, Dakama Circle and the Highway leading to the hospital/general office. This is one area I think that warrants the installation of Linden’s first set of traffic lights; this junction is a traffic hazard that needs to be better supervised but until then there should visible traffic markings/signs. Also the traffic lights at the bridge should be put back into operation, and not those uncoordinated red-green flag signals from opposite ends creating steady confusion and bickering.
Yours faithfully,
Frank Fyffe
