By FRANCIS JOSEPH
It is high time that someone in authority deal with the escalating traffic nightmare on the nation’s highways.
It is not a TODAY problem!
For years, we have had to deal with this problem and it seems no one has a solution. Whenever it rains, it is crawling traffic along the highways. One simple accident causes stress and pain for motorists.
Look at Tuesday lone. Four non-fatal accidents caused a traffic nightmare for motorists. It look motorists hours to get from Point A to Point B. By the time they reached to work, they were ready to leave to return home.
Question: Why do the authorities, and I mean the police, leave bodies on the road or vehicles in the road for hours, causing miles of traffic?
The first thing they would say is that they are waiting on the District Medical Officer to give the order to remove a body. So if no DMO is available, the bodies must remain on the roadway. That body in the road leads to maco traffic as nearly every motorist wants to see what is happening.
The second thing – damaged vehicles remain on the roadway for hours because the police officers to take measurements, do not have the tape or cannot be found. Added to the fact that we have too many vehicles on the road. That is why removing bodies and vehicles is so important.
Next question: if we cannot deal with this issue, how can we manage a natural disaster?
As I said before, heavy rains and flooding cause serious problems for motorists and communities.
What about a natural disaster, like an earthquake or hurricane? What will we do?
Where is the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM)? How come we do not see them responding and giving updates to the public on emergencies?
In the United Kingdom, police and other emergency responders, waste little time in removing bodies and vehicles from the motorways and smaller roads. I have personally been on the scene of accidents and fatal shootings in the UK where responders have moved with haste to remove bodies and vehicles in the less than 45 minutes.
There is very little build up of traffic.
So what happened on Tuesday?
Motorists heading into Port of Spain from East and South Trinidad endured hours of traffic after four non-fatal accidents along major highways.
Three of the accidents occurred between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m., with two along the Churchill-Roosevelt Highway in Maloney and El Socorro, and another along the Solomon Hochoy Highway, Gasparillo. The fourth accident occurred later along the Beetham Highway where a man was struck by a vehicle while attempting to cross the roadway beneath the flyover near the National Petroleum Marketing Company (NP) headquarters.
The congestion caused by the early morning accidents became so severe that the westbound lane of the Priority Bus Route, from Arima to Abattoir Road, Port of Spain, was opened to motorists between 8.30 a.m. and 11 a.m.
According to police reports, shortly after 6 a.m., three vehicles were involved in a collision along the northbound lane of the highway in Gasparillo.
The situation was compounded by two separate accidents along the Churchill-Roosevelt Highway.
Shortly after 6 a.m., two vehicles collided along the highway in El Socorro, with one vehicle overturning and coming to rest on its side.
The accident affected traffic in both directions, with southbound trafÂfic backing up as far as Chaguanas.
Motorists travelling from the east were also affected by the El Socorro accident and an earlier two-vehicle collision in Maloney.
Those heading towards Port of Spain faced delays of up to two hours as police conducted investigations and motorists slowed down to observe the collisions.
Even after the Maloney and El Socorro accidents were cleared, motorists heading into the capital faced another disruption along the Beetham Highway.
The morning’s traffic chaos also prompted frustration among motoÂrists on social media.
One driver complained that a vehicle involved in the El Socorro accident shortly after 6 a.m. had still not been cleared by 8 a.m.
The driver said he was travelling west towards Port of Spain from Orange Grove and endured hours of delays because of the accident.
