Dear Editor,
As a Lindener, and more so as a citizen who is equally concerned with safety on our roads, I need to add my two bits on the issue of the billboards that were torn down along the Linden-Soesdyke Highway, Region 10, and more particularly those approaching the turn at Millie’s Hide-out into Linden proper.
First, I fully concur with all that the Regional Chairman Mortimer Mingo and IMC Chairman Orrin Gordon had to say, and please understand that they are not alone in their view on this disturbing issue. They have expressed the vexation and concern of all residents of Region 10 and also those who frequent the town and beyond. Editor, this whole talk about the billboards being a traffic hazard is sheer poppycock; in fact it now appears to be the other way around, the removal of those signs has now created the hazard, something to which many have already attested.
I can remember seeing men at work taking the billboards down, and thought that they were either being replaced more inwards, or being differently constructed/designed to brighten them up and enhance them; I never thought that it was a mere ‘bruk down and done fuh good.’
Let me put it simply: the people who came up with that idea had absolutely nothing to do and were looking for something to do. The decision was most thoughtless and unimaginative, and as a consequence the area has been left flat, dull, uninspiring and hazard prone. Everyone travelling to Linden – foreigners, visitors, Lindeners returning on holiday, business persons, et al – come alive and are reinvigorated upon seeing those billboards that guide, instruct, inform, admonish, advertise and promote our stars in the world of sport. Does the minister have any idea how Lindeners feel about their world famous athlete Marian Burnett’s life-size picture being pulled down and thrown aside?
Ask bus drivers who run the highway daily, or any other driver for that matter, what those billboards meant to them. I have noted the polite and gentlemanly approach chosen by IMC Chairman Orrin Gordon in describing the manner in which the authorities and by extension, the people of Linden, were treated when he said he “was piqued that the ministry did not see it prudent to notify any of the local authorities of their intentions to remove the boards.” I refuse to be so decent; for me it was nothing short of being contemptuous and uncaring.
Those billboards cost much money and brought in much needed revenue – though small – as was mentioned, and they were also, indeed, a sort of stimulation.
But for the people who care so much about the hazards on the Linden-Soesdyke Highway, here are a few things that can be done:
A. Cut those large towering trees hanging over the road that add to the darkness of the highway; clear both sides some twenty feet in. Getting this done can provide jobs for people living along the highway all year round.
B. Put back the reflector posts that are placed around bends, which have fallen down due to erosion.
C. Resurface the parts of the road which have gone bad and hold water whenever it rains. Many drivers who know the road, often take the other lane to avoid the long bad parts; this spells danger.
D. Put creative and enhancing high-reflector signs as a fill-in for lights along the way.
E. Have the traffic cops work constantly on the beat, especially at night.
F. Make constant checks to ensure that low-beds and timber trucks are in proper order and have front, back and side reflectors intact; they must also always be equipped with those screen reflectors around the vehicle in the event of a breakdown.
This billboard matter must be a concern for all citizens of Linden; we all are involved. I hope that the ever vigilant and concerned councillor Mr Ian Halls will deal with this matter on his TV programme ‘Under the Microscope.’
Yours faithfully,
Frank Fyffe
