Dear Editor,
Have you noticed that whenever there is a pile-up on the streets in Georgetown, there is a policeman ahead directing traffic?
Those who have been clamouring for the installation of traffic lights in the city will soon discover the wisdom in the caution to be careful about what you wish for lest it comes true.
Traffic is currently obstructed in Georgetown because of the pervasive road-works being undertaken. This relatively minor irritant will be catapulted into frustration and rage when the object of the road-works, the erection of traffic lights, is realised.
We do not need traffic lights in Georgetown. Many would consider this a reckless statement. After all, Georgetown, like New York, Toronto and Port-of-Spain is a city: they have traffic lights and so should we! The harsh reality is that there is not a sustained heavy flow of traffic in Georgetown to justify the introduction of traffic light signals. Ironically, the heavy flow of traffic in central Georgetown during peak hours will inevitably be transmuted into snarl-ups when it is sought to regulate the flow by traffic lights.
We are agonizingly aware of the chaos which reigns in the city when traffic is controlled so as not to interrupt our politicians when they assemble to heckle each other and to occasionally burst into song. We also literally see red when our judges preen themselves on parade and the flow of traffic is regulated to a dead stop to facilitate this quarterly medieval spectacle.
Drivers left to themselves work things out they communicate with each other by gestures (sometimes one fingered ones) and otherwise signify their intentions. The result is that traffic flows freely.
Several cities in Europe are cutting back on traffic lights since the experience has been that there is a better flowing of traffic than when everything was regulated. The deregulated traffic system was initiated in several towns in Holland. This is another demonstration of the sensible attitude of the Dutch to various societal issues.
Another instance of over-regulation in Guyana is the inane decision to paint pedestrian crossings smack in the middle of high speed highways. The good old curb drill has been working well over the years but pedestrians are now lulled into a false sense of security. The result has been several serious accidents at these hazardous crossings. The “shmuck with a can of paint” (to paraphrase the Wall Street lawyers’ quip on guarantors) will go on an ego trip and attribute blame to “reckless drivers.”
One can be sure that these misplaced crossings will not be erased until a few more innocent pedestrians are struck down.
Installation of the traffic lights will prove to be an additional hazard to pedestrians when they try to dodge before that frustrated driver who steps on the gas as soon as the light changes. Their epitaphs may be borrowed from what E.Y. Harburg said of Bishop Patrick’s fatal error in crossing the street:
“The light of God was with him
But the traffic light was not.”
Yours faithfully,
Vidyanand Persaud
