Dear Editor,

There is an urgent need to bring order to the public space and the behaviour of motorists and pedestrians on our roadways is a significant contributor to the carnage which characterises daily life.

This reality has grave implications for the normal functioning of the nation’s affairs. Commerce, leisure, emergency response, and crime fighting have all been impacted negatively by indiscipline on our roadways. The long delays in traffic which prevent labour from being at the production plants on time; the disruption to vacation and travel experience; the unnecessary stress on the health-care system; and the cover provided to more serious crimes are incontestable appendages to the crisis on our roads.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, the issues surrounding the new Road Traffic Act (RTA) demonstrate an absence of thoughtfulness within the governmental executive, the legislative system, and the emblematic sloppiness of Opposition representation in the Parliament. In a time of crisis, governments are wont to become desperate and may focus only on cauterising the rot instead of adjudicating on a multiplicity of variables simultaneously. The carnage in our society, which did not begin just a decade ago, is frightening, and the Government is almost boxed in and may feel compelled to respond severely.

For its part, though, it is not the first time that the Opposition has failed to pay attention to the tabling of regulations in the legislature in order to identify egregious incongruities with the practical working of our society or forgot their hand in the original crafting of the template. The National Identification System is another such occurrence which questions the Opposition’s focus, or lack thereof, in the legislature. It is disturbing that we have often seen statutes carried over from one governmental administration to another yet being vigorously opposed because political capital may be derived or legislators are too lazy to conduct research.

Those occupying the back benches of Parliament have also demonstrated their unbusinesslike approach to the nation’s affairs by not paying attention to what matters most. This must change. It is time to stop the lunacy and desk-banging antics in Parliament and get on with the nation’s business. Our governance must unfetter itself from elementary democracy and matriculate to mature and focused management of our challenges.

It is also opportune for the electorate to look within itself and start sending purposeful and enlightened representatives to conduct the people’s business in Parliament and not just election winners.

Mark A Hylton

Montego Bay, St James

markahylton@hotmail.com