Time to improve poorly designed road networks
There is a call for road networks to be improved across the territory to change the culture of unsafe practices among motorists.
That position was put forward by hosts of the Talking Points radio show, Violet Gaul and Damion Grange who were discussing poor road practices with former Commissioner of Police Michael Matthews.
Grange said while he admits that some motorists make the roads unsafe for other users, the government must be blamed for vital road infrastructure that should already be in place for the motoring public.
“I attributed the poor (road) design to our government because there is nowhere to pull over and drop off people. There is nowhere to pull off the road if you’re having mechanical issues. So it’s an unsafe road system in general and we just can’t put the responsibility on just the drivers,” Grange stated.
While agreeing that the roadways need to be improved, Former Commissioner Matthews bemoaned the unsafe road practices among drivers, especially taxi operators who transport locals and tourists.
“We have some very unsafe practices still here on our roads. A lot of people do not understand dual carriageway. You’ll see taxis and cars stopping in the outside lane which is the overtaking lane, and they’ll stop and drop the bloke right in the path of oncoming traffic. I’ve seen taxis stopping in the middle of the roundabout. This is not about bashing taxi drivers, we’ve got a lot of very good taxi drivers doing a great job for the territory and tourism,” Matthews explained.
At the same time, Matthews pointed out that he has noticed that many drivers don’t use the areas along the roadways that are designated for pick up and drop-offs.
“There are also locations where drivers are told ‘that’s the place to pick up passengers’ and it still gets ignored because somebody is flagging them down and they’ll just stop the traffic to pick up. We are going to see people get hurt at some point because nobody is thinking safety,” Matthews stated.
The state of the territory’s roads is always a topical issue in the community. And while BVIslanders always advocate for improved roads to accommodate local motorists, many have expressed concerns that the roads aren’t suitable to accommodate the increased airlift the territory is expecting as of June 2023.
Works Minister Kye Rymer vowed that roads on the eastern end of Tortola that will be frequented by visitors will be ready for increased arrivals next year.
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We need a pedistrian walking at port purcell plz
1 vote for Kye . I feel like he achieved a lot in his 4 years. I will def vote for you again .
But at least scooter riders are now obeying all the laws and putting a good face forward for the VI.
All the money has been spent by the corrupt politicians and they left us with dirt roads, derelict schools and broken bridges and docks
Love all of you that have to have your high beams lights on at night too. No road etiquette or respect here at all here!
They need to fix the bus stop sheds as well.
Is this man for real. Where in town is there a pull off to drop off or pickup a passenge? The only people that are blamed are the taxi drivers as though it’s not hard enough for them. What about the drivers that park in one lane to run into the bank to draw money from the bank? The cars that blow their horns on the taxi drivers and as soon as they get the chance to pass the pull over and block the same street to pick a friend of pretty girl up on the side of the curb. The government needs to be held accountable for this not drivers, there is no place to stop. The only person that is punished is the taxi driver. He is given a ticket by the police or the taxi and livery officers. Two law enforcement for taxi but nothing for private cars.
Interestingly, lowering your high beams is not an item covered in the driving test or prep! Is it even a law? Perhaps start right there!
Yet again, Damion is right
And then have buses!!??? Not till the bus sheds are built again or maybe 5 times so the same people can make the same money 5 times and then maybe we can have buses. One bus???? Please???? If we vote for you??? Is that how it works?
Tolan drivers are simply lazy AF. Too lazy to pull over properly. Too lazy to park with courtesy. Too lazy to be bothered dimming high beams. Too lazy to ever use an indicator when turning. It’s all about me me me here. And the taxi drivers are top of this list. They are supposed to professional drivers. Driving is their profession, it’s how they make a living , yet their habits are among the worst and set a poor example. Take pride in your actions people, have some compassion for your fellow citizens. For once thing of others instead of yourself!
Design is only a small problem.
All the roads need repairs! Our politicians do nothing about this. Vote in a budget that takes care of this! This isn’t like building a rocket and flying to the moon!
All you politicians get voted in and then start all these crazy new projects that all end up over budget and not finished when you leave office (or end up in a US prison…). Why can’t you just keep the current property in repair before moving on to your new shiny projects? Roads, hospitals, schools! We need them!
This is very simple stuff. Don’t make it into something that is bigger than what it is!
Sorry but re-designing road networks, as much as it may be needed, is just not going to change the culture of unsafe driving. Enforcing the traffic rules is more likely to yield results. Nobody likes this, but without it, everybody drives with impunity.
One issue is left hand drive vehicles (predominant in most of the world) use in a left hand driving system (limited to only a few countries). Passengers have to inevitably enter/exit on the traveled way and opening the pax door presents an obstacle to traffic. Secondly, drivers are generally at a disadvantage going into curves by being closes to the edge of the road (instead of center). Thirdly, headlight beams are focused to the right (on left hand drive cars). meaning that driving on the left blinds people coming from the other direction. Not an issue, of course with right hand drive cars. Shouldn’t we just change to driving on the right? Would be safer since most cars here are left hand drive.
Road lamp post lights to dim. I don’t know why the corporation don’t buy them. Why it had to go local contractors?
This is a case of pot and kettle. The police commissioner ought to first take a look at his own ranks and how they drive on the roads before bemoaning the general public. I have enough dash cam footage to back this up: changing lanes and not indicating, parking in front of no parking signs to do personal errands, misuse of police property, driving with faulty lights, driving and talking on the cell phone, using emergency lights when there is no emergency, speeding etc etc etc.
Until the police can behave in a manner suitable for that office, the commissioner is being a hypocrite.