Discipline on the roads, please?
Dear Editor,
The long-awaited new Road Traffic Act (RTA) came into effect on February 1, 2023. The expected effect of the RTA six months later is still to be realised.
The Act came with new fancy offences and exorbitant fines aimed at scaring motorists into submission. The motorist, however, especially the public passenger operators, never took the bait. Drivers have seemingly upped the anti, driving blind to road markings and signs. Never before have I seen so many drivers disobeying the red light as if they were not working.
The Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) has acquired and implemented a digital ticketing system, it has also obtained new breathalyser machines, but the mayhem on the roads continue.
The towns across the island have been fitted with cameras at stoplights and the JCF has a designated set of officers to deal with traffic called Public Safety and Traffic Enforcement Branch (PSTEB). But these efforts have not yielded the the success that would lead to safer roads.
The culture of indiscipline which Jamaica has embraced has blinded our eyes and blocked our thinking to the progress that discipline would have afforded us. We continue to top the previous year’s death toll for traffic collisions because we need a police officer to be assigned to each motor vehicle and motor cycle for any form of decency or discipline to prevail in Jamaica.
Look at our country 61 years after Independence. It has become more uncivilised and we are willing to kill our brothers and sisters because we cannot wait for 30 seconds for a traffic light to change. It is tiresome to talk about.
Jamaica’s beauty and the gains made through sports and other areas demonstrate that there is no doubt that Jamaicans can be disciplined. It is seen every day at the US embassy and our adherence to laws when we travel to other countries.
It seems we prefer to be under bakra massa’s system rather than simply obey the rules. Bus and taxi operators, Jamaicans, can we please try to be patient and exercise some discipline, please, please, please?
Hezekan Bolton
h_e_z_e@hotmail.com
