THE EDITOR, Sir:THE TRAGIC washing away of Mrs. Pauline Grey and of Mr. Calderon at a fording of the Cassia Park Gully on Saturday, April 5, 2003, could have happened to anyone who uses that 'black spot' frequently.
What is most perturbing is that this is not the first accident of this nature to have occurred at that 'black spot' motorists being washed away or barely escaping being washed away by a sudden surge of water resulting from the release of blockages of debris that was irresponsibly dumped into the gully.
Another feeling of dismay is that it seems as if a strong public outcry of grief and horror is absent, whenever such tragedies occur. As Jamaicans, we seem to have graduated into a sphere of insensitivity, indifference, coldness and hardness wherein folks even make fun of the misfortune of others. We are not feeling enough for one another. We are sorrowfully lacking in national empathy.
POLITICAL PSYCHOSIS
The main point I wish to make, however, is that it is enigmatic that successive authorities whom we elect or who are appointed to secure public safety appear to suffer a sort of political psychosis, inertia or syndrome of tardiness and callousness whereby they do not endeavour to remedy major faults which are dangerous to life, limb and property, unless a number of humans is sacrificed over a long period of time to official negligence.
The annual fatalities at Flat Bridge are almost legendary, yet nothing has been done to construct a modern bridge. Thanks be to God and the powers that be, the Church RoadBog Walk Bypass now has stop lights! When the Bypass was being constructed, some Bog Walk citizens recommended a roundabout or underpass at that particular intersection. Presumably, bureaucrats knew better than the citizens. Many children and adults have died at that black spot, since the construction of the Bypass, before the situation was remedied in 2002.
URGENT REPLACEMENT
The Linstead-Banbury bridge requires urgent replacement. Our Member of Parliament made a public announcement, last year, that the bridge would be replaced early. I am hoping that the authorities are not waiting for a fatality to occur before they do the job. Doubtlessly, there are several other neglected 'black spots' on our roads, although we must give credit where it is due a tremendous amount of road improvement is going on. Perilous spots, some due to bad engineering, on frequently used roads should not be neglected in favour of larger and more conspicuous projects.
Erecting warning signs and depth-markers at treacherous fordings as proposed by the National Works Agency is a marvellous idea which I hope the agency will swiftly implement, but not good enough, since the real danger lies in a great volume of water dammed by an accumulation of debris breaking through its barrier and rushing down in a torrent. To increase the probability of no one getting washed away, bridges must be constructed.
I am, etc.,
OREN O. COUSINS
P.O. Box 43, Bog Walk
St. Catherine
