Please, fix Spanish Town Road!
Dear Editor,
I wish to register my disgust at the poor condition of Spanish Town Road.
The road is riddled with potholes and many who traverse the roadway now realise that, after going through the stoplight at the Weymouth Drive turn-off, your safest and best bet is to keep well right on the three-lane roadway as much as possible. Unfortunately, for me, I learnt this the hard way recently, after bursting both tyres on the left side of my car, having connected with a fearsome crater in the vicinity of the Riverton City community which, by the way, is poorly lit.
You can imagine my despair at being immobile with my two small children and a female friend in the car and faced with the prospect of having to change not one, but two tyres, especially when, like most people, I only had one spare. Thanks be to God this story has a good ending. I dialled 119 and spoke apologetically — was this a real emergency? — and sought assistance from the police, who came within 15 minutes and took me to a tyre shop on Molynes Road to get one tyre repaired, while I urged my female colleague to remain in the locked car with the children. To cut the story short, one tyre was vulcanised while the other is useless. I will now have to buy a new tyre.
I wish to say a big thank you to the lady and two men who were first on the scene to offer assistance. Also, gratitude to my colleague, her friend and her parents, who ensured the children remained safe while I was getting the tyre repaired. And to constables Thomas and Daley of the St Andrew South police division, as well as the 119 operator who sent help. Thanks also to an elderly resident of the community who, my colleague tells me, kept checking to make sure they were doing OK.
Finally, as a motor vehicle owner, consumer of electricity, petrol, and everything else that attracts General Consumption Tax (refer to 2017/18 tax package) I believe the least the Government can do is repair the roadways within a reasonable time frame, especially one as frequently traversed as Spanish Town Road. In short, just “give wi good road fi drive pon, please”.
Kiana Walker
Spanish Town, St Catherine
zednem.aka@gmail.com