Remedy Wellington Drive death trap

THE EDITOR, Sir:

I cannot be alone in feeling that at the top of Wellington Drive, St Andrew, there is an accident waiting to happen.

Wellington Drive has become, in the mornings and evenings, a vital bypass of Liguanea for town and university traffic. Whereas the bottom of the road, where it joins Old Hope Road, is a very smooth and safe arrangement for traffic in all directions, the motorist takes his life in his hands at the top, where it comes out on to Mona Road. It is not so much the weight of traffic as the conflicting contraflows.

The simple answer is to create a mini roundabout in the centre of the junction with a big notice in the middle, facing all three entry points, to remind all vehicles approaching it that vehicles already on the roundabout have priority (standard highway code procedure, but well worth a reminder).

As a starter, this mini roundabout could be a very large tyre (painted white for easy visibility at night), like the one we had for some 30 years at Drax Hall, where the road to Steer Town came into the then main north coast road.

My frequent use of Wellington Drive indicates that many motorists coming down Mona Road to turn on to Wellington Drive are not aware that they should put on the indicator light to show their intention. Both they and the vehicles going straight on towards Liguanea are proceeding at speed and hence the great danger to the traffic coming up Wellington Drive, mostly to turn right.

A mini roundabout with the notice in the middle and solid white lines at the entry points to discourage speed into the junction will make for a much-needed measure of safety there.

If this works, the National Works Agency could one day build a proper roundabout there and then divide the Mona Road at that point into two lanes: one for traffic into Wellington Drive, which would, in effect, bypass the roundabout, and another for traffic going straight on, which would have to stop or slow sign at the solid white line. There is enough space to divide Mona Road at that point.

Traffic lights are not needed at this junction, because at night and for large parts of the day, the amount of traffic does not merit the expense.

JOHN OTWAY

jotway@cwjamaica.com

Kingston 6