Fix roads for Jamaica 50

I can't recall hearing a clear and forthright explanation as to why motorists are paying double and compounded taxes on fuel specifically levied to fix our horrible roads, yet very few repairs have taken place. Many roads are in a constant state of disrepair and are in need of major resurfacing - from the substrata to the blacktop.

Scores of communities have grown tired of negotiating roads that are damaging the suspension systems of their vehicles. Having paid their property taxes and fuel taxes, citizens still find themselves beseeching the Government to repair the macerated roads.

They are given non-committal, half-hearted promises and told that they are on long waiting lists. They are sometimes told that the authorities will assist them in securing discounted road repairs (that can run into hundreds of thousands of dollars). After waiting in vain for the authorities to do their duty, some are forced to sacrifice further and patch the roads with cement - because asphalt is prohibitively expensive.

Dangerous potholes on major thoroughfares interfere with the free flow of traffic and are hazardous to the motoring public. Many residential and some arterial roads are in such a disgraceful state that pickups, with their firm and sturdy suspensions, are the only sensible and cost-effective choice of transportation but the authorities have very unwisely and counterproductively also levied (apparently punitive) taxes against them.

Our potholes are so notorious that a bright and innovative group of four Northern Caribbean University students won the grand prize in this year's Digital Jam 2.0 Mobile App competition with a BlackBerry app (the Pothole Positioning System PPS) that can detect jerks caused by potholes in the road, prompt the driver to record the severity and location of the pothole and upload the information to a Global Positioning Satellite so that other BlackBerry users can track the potholes to reduce the number of damage, accidents and even deaths that they cause on our roads. The app will eventually be used by any other smartphone.

Disaster zones

Bad enough that we must suffer the inconvenience, expense and danger of so many potholes in 21st-century Jamaica, but this is the 50th year of our Independence. If we judge from our roads, many places look as if we are totally devoid of any civil organisation or governmental control. In fact, many residential roads look as if a major natural disaster had recently occurred.

Aside from the unfairness, the reticence from the authorities, the expensive and repeated damage to vehicles, and danger to lives when our roads are left in such a horrendous state of disrepair, it puts road users at risk for ambush and makes people feel as if their Government cares very little about them.

The psychological effect of such widespread road disrepair has a profoundly negative downside. The appearance/ impression of abandonment makes citizens feel that there is no real authority in charge. They feel as if the Government is being dishonest and/or deceptive and they see this as systemic laxity. This perception permeates other spheres of their lives (the rule of law, discipline, unity, honesty and patriotism).

Eventually, societal cohesiveness suffers immensely. The ramifications of unrepaired roads, therefore, transcend the need for comfort, convenience and safety; they severely erode the confidence and trust that a people should have in the authorities.

This atmosphere of disrepair, governmental abdication of responsibility, and the feeling of official deception and/or incompetence are in urgent need of rectification. Even with much more primitive roads, before 1962 we enjoyed far more efficient road maintenance. That made Jamaicans view the colonial government as organised, efficient and caring. A country besieged by potholes is absolutely no way to 'celebrate' 50 years of self-governance.

Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and garthrattray@gmail.com.