I read with interest an account of the deputy prime minister and minister of public work’s, Philip Brave Davis, address to the Rotary Club of West Nassau.
It appears that the minister responsible for public works is unaware that a Road Patch and Repair Unit has existed at the Ministry of Public Works since time immemorial.
That unit is tasked with filling holes especially following heavy rains and storms.
It also coordinates with the public (and now private) utility corporations and companies in connection with road repairs required as a result of roadwork related to the provision of water, electricity, telephones and cable services.
When the capacity of the unit is stretched, the ministry routinely hires small independent patch companies to assist with minor road repairs.
The deputy prime minister does not need to reinvent the wheel.
He simply needs to ensure that his ministry’s units are properly staffed and funded.
The deputy prime minister also seems to believe that a road is made narrow by the size of a sidewalk.
It is not clear to me why adequately sized sidewalks needed to ensure the safety of pedestrians – many of whom are school children – will hamper vehicular traffic along roads that have been constructed to specifications approved and used in every country in the developed world and those of our near neighbors in the Caribbean.
And, notwithstanding protestations to the contrary, all of the new roads being completed under the New Providence Road Improvement Project (NPRIP) fully meet and comply with international standards.
The news report also advises that Davis promised to have “engineers and the police” review the “road islands,” designed and put in place by road engineers who insisted they were required to ensure smooth and safer road usage.
Davis may want to advise at which point he will accept the advice of the road design engineers or is it that he proposes to keep the road designs open to review and amendment until he finds a road engineer who makes decisions based on a popularity contest as opposed to sound traffic engineering principles.
Davis also seems to believe that emergency vehicles require wider roads than do busses, jeeps and dump trucks.
All those types of vehicles travel two abreast along Market Street and indeed along Baillou Hill Road without difficulty.
Perhaps Davis does not appreciate that good order is ensured when good driving practices are adopted by all users of the roadway.
Properly designed roads are meant to discourage speeding, discourage weaving in and out of traffic lanes and dictate against motorists creating obstructions and congestion by stopping and or parking in no parking/no stopping zones.
Rather than promising to keep shopping for engineers who may rubber stamp popular positions that accommodate bad driving habits, the deputy prime minister should encourage all Bahamian drivers to observe the rules of the road.
Kirkland Turner
Nassau, The Bahamas
September, 2012
