Traffic lights badly needed

THE EDITOR, Sir. GETTING INTO and out of certain streets is no easy matter when having to contend with some drivers who are neither courteous nor caring to fellow drivers.

This does not only apply to the infamous bus and taxi drivers, but others as well. One often wonders whether they have contracts with body repair garages and have quotas to meet. Increased stress levels, higher insurance premiums, death and injuries, loss of man hours, and hospital bills and often permanent disabilities are among the price we pay eventually.

There must be scores of traffic intersections in the city which need traffic-control lights, but I specifically refer to the intersections of Beechwood Avenue and Half-Way Tree Road, Mountain View Avenue and Stanton Terrace, Grants Pen and Constant Spring roads, Mannings Hill and Constant Spring roads, Chisholm Avenue and Waltham Park Road.

It could also be a useful effort to consider widening the Eureka Road and Half-Way Tree roads intersection, thus reopening Eureka Road to two-way traffic with a left turn only from Half-Way Tree Road. This would allow traffic intending to travel up Old Hope Road avoiding the congestion in Cross Roads. Is the lane-marking project still in progress? If it is, it must be going as slowly as we do public works in Jamaica.

Finally, does the National Works Agency have a team that goes out and patches small potholes before they turn into ravines? After all, a stitch in time saves nine and could save the country a lot of money from major road patching and vehicle suspension parts. TREVOR SAMUELS tasamuels@cwjamaica.com