New roundabout at Crick Corner a waste of time

Editor: During this past week, I happened to hear some of the talk-in programme on Star Radio, hosted by Mr King.

During a portion of the programme I heard Mr King waxing lyrical about his recent trip to Mespo and how wonderful the new road leading to Crick Corner will be when it is finished and how he marvelled at the construction of the new roundabout at Crick Corner. All this is quite true, but in the interests of a balanced programme, he should also, to my mind, have mentioned the negatives, as well as the positives.{{more}} In fact, so far, this roundabout has been a total waste of the constructors’ time and effort and more so, a total waste of taxpayers money!

I use this route on a regular basis and can attest to the fact that ever since this roundabout was completed, almost 80 per cent of car drivers and 100 per cent of van drivers still negotiate this corner as if the roundabout had never been built! This means that the 20 per cent of us that follow the correct procedure when transiting this roundabout take our life in our own hands.

I can only assume that this lack of road sense equates to two things:

(1) – The car/van driver does not know how to negotiate a roundabout in the proper manner; if that is the case, they should take themselves off the road and invest in a refresher course of proper driving skills.

(2) – These drivers are too bone idle, lazy and inconsiderate to obey the rules of the road and think that the roundabout is for decoration only. Even more reason why they should cease driving until they can be educated in such a way as too learn how to negotiate such an obstacle.

Also, as stated above, Mr King made reference to the “new” road leading to Crick Corner. I ask why, in the interests of an impartial programme, he did not make mention of the state of the road from Crick Corner into Mespo. The condition of this road is appalling; it is littered with an absolute profusion of potholes, some large enough to swallow a small goat and stretching across the whole width of the road.

This again presents a major traffic hazard to all motorists having to use this stretch of road. Vehicle drivers are forced to bob and weave from one side of the road to the other to avoid damage to their vehicle. Not to mention the utmost hazards that these potholes create for anyone unfortunate enough to be riding a motorbike or a pedal cycle.

However, both of the above pale into insignificance when one considers the plight of one young man who is unfortunate enough to be confined to a wheelchair. Many times I have seen this individual having to wheel himself into the centre of the road to be able to clear these potholes. How he has been lucky enough to survive without serious accident this long I do not know! It is about time that this road undergoes serious repair, firstly to keep this young man out of MCMH and secondly to give us motorists some reward for the 650 dollars we spend every year on road tax!

A W Indupp