Motorists warned to cut speed on new highway

Stephen Shaw, communications manager of the National Works Agency, is imploring road users to drive with utmost care as they travel along the open stretch of the South Coast Highway in 10 Miles, Bull Bay, St Andrew.

"We want to zoom in on the issue of safety and the safe use of this particular road. Already, unfortunately, we have had at least one fatal accident on this bit of road while we have had other accidents. From an engineering standpoint, we have done certain things, we have widened the roads and have sought to reduce the number of corners and we have started to erect signs to indicate where persons ought to slow down. We have also importantly indicated where the road is steep and extra care ought to be taken," he said.

Shaw and Assistant Commissioner Gary McKenzie, who heads the police's Public Safety and Traffic Enforcement Branch, were among a group of persons who visited the new leg of the highway on Thursday. McKenzie said there have been vehicular crashes within the area.

"The roadway has changed over time, so for persons who have been traversing from St Thomas to Kingston and vice versa, it is necessary to ensure that they first look at what is happening and take the necessary responsibility. Where we are at now, there is an eight per cent gradient and this requires that persons who are driving, especially large vehicles and vehicles with loads, that they ensure that they select the right gears and that they drive at the correct speeds and that they observe the signs that are in place," McKenzie said.

He said the police will be providing the necessary monitoring in the space in which the construction work is being done.

"Where persons disobey the signs or the directions of persons who are managing the entire area, then that will become an offence. The police will be monitoring. We have had a collision on the roadway which, unfortunately, took about three lives, and we have had a number of crashes and we have to monitor and police it. We are very mindful that at nights, persons will speed and so it is very dangerous. This is a very smooth but wide road. But when it rains, the drag factor of the road surface will become lower and so persons who apply brakes will find that they will slide across the surface in a faster manner and they will lose control of the vehicle," McKenzie said.

Olive, a senior citizen, also implored motorists to desist from speeding, and to watch out for pedestrians.

"Mi nuh see any sidewalks yet but mi hope them make them because we have to walk there. More time the driver dem speed like is a race ting. But what bother mi the most is that mi can't sleep in mi bed at nights because the trailer man dem blow dem horn loud like is a show off ting. Mi is 71 years old and can't manage the noise, so mi a beg dem stop it because mi see other truck drive by quietly," she said.