MANDEVILLE, Manchester — School leaders in this south-central town want a section of deCarteret Road to be declared a school zone with investments in road safety infrastructure, particularly sidewalks for students.

Belair High School Principal Lawrence Rowe and his peer at deCarteret College Prim Lewis say their appeals over the years for the authorities to address the danger of students walking on the narrow main road have fallen on deaf ears.

Rowe, whose school has a population of 790 students, said the only thing that was done years ago was the construction of a pedestrian shelter.

“We have made representation. I personally wrote to the National Works Agency (NWA) and the member of parliament at the time, Peter Bunting. I wrote to the mayor, Donovan Mitchell. They came, they looked at the place, and they made representation. The only thing I got out of that was the pedestrian shelter that is at the school gate now,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

Rowe said the situation needs to be addressed to reduce the risk of danger to students and pedestrians.

“One of the recommendations that I made was for the entire deCarteret Road stretch, all the way up to the end of Newleigh Road, to be designated a school zone and rumble strips be placed right at the entrance at Belair High School coming down the hill so it slows down the vehicles,” he said.

Lewis agreed with Rowe as she said motorists speed on the main road.

“The area needs to be declared a school zone because people speed excessively on that road from time to time and the students crossing the road to come to school, they are really in danger,” she said.

Councillor Jones Oliphant (People’s National Party, Mandeville Division) said he has continuously appealed for the situation to be addressed.

“The road still remains dangerous and it needs to be fixed with a guard rail, and a retaining wall needs to be put in, and put in a sidewalk. I have been lobbying for that for the past nine years,” he said.

An official at the NWA, who asked not to be named, said poor town planning is to be blamed.

“If anything is to happen now there would have to be dialogue with landowners about acquisition and it is going to be a tedious process,” he said in reference to the proposed widening of deCarteret Road.

Lewis said that Mandeville lacks basic infrastructure, including sidewalks, and pointed out that disabled people are greatly affected.

“The Disability Act was passed on February 14, 2022 and based on even this Act then, the town itself would be non-compliant, in terms of accommodating people with disabilities,” she said.

Rowe told the Sunday Observer that up to last Sunday there was an accident on the main road resulting in damage to Belair High’s perimeter fence.

“I am trying to get the persons now to come and repair it, [but] no one wants to take responsibility,” he said.

He added that similar incidents have happened in prior years as he reiterated his appeal for the area to be declared a school zone.

“It is something that I have been lobbying for… ever since I came here in 2017. Articles have been written about it already,” he said.

“We are hoping that the authorities and the powers that be will reach out and assist us to widen the road because we don’t want a situation where students are killed before we act. We need to be proactive and not reactive to the danger that exists on this road right now,” he added.

“Most of my students walk up to Wesley Road and it is a similar situation,” said Rowe.