Dear Editor,
The Editorial on the `East Coast railway embankment one-way traffic restriction’ (SN Oct 24) was well timed and to the point. Let me, however, also point out that while a Traffic Policeman is placed at the lights at the corner of Sheriff Street and the Railway Embankment Road, to prevent northbound traffic on Sheriff Street from turning east into the Embankment Road, there is no Traffic Policeman at the lights where Sheriff Street traffic flows into the Rupert Craig Highway.
The result is that the northbound traffic on Sheriff Street backs up, when the lights turn red against it at Rupert Craig, all the way back to the Embankment Road. A traffic jam ensues. There is, therefore, need for a Traffic Policeman at the juncture of Rupert Craig and Sheriff Street to control the additional flow of traffic caused by being prevented from turning east into the Embankment Road before 9:00 a.m.
You have also observed the lane hopping on the Rupert Craig Highway particularly at this time when the traffic flow from Sheriff Street turning east into Rupert Craig has significantly increased. However, the fundamental reason for this is that slow moving vehicles, mainly heavy trucks and vans, wrongly insist on driving on the outside right faster lane, forcing faster cars to move to the inside left slower lane to pass and then move back to the outside faster lane.
In fact, on two or more lane highways, slower traffic driving at speeds below the maximum speed limit are required by law to drive in the slower left lane and faster traffic use the outside right lanes for overtaking and faster speeds. The Traffic Police in Europe and North America will ticket you for consistently driving slowly on an outside lane. It’s time they started doing it here.
Yours faithfully,
Kit Nascimento
