SENIOR Superintendent Elan Powell, head of the Police Traffic Division, says traffic cops in Kingston and Portmore were not too anxious to charge cyclists who traverse the Portmore toll road because no provisions have been made for them.

Just this week executive director of the Road Safety Council Paula Fletcher announced that there were plans to build a cycle track on both sides of the Portmore/Kingston leg of Highway 2000 to facilitate the dozens of pedal cyclists who have to commute daily between the municipality and the capital.

Fletcher’s office was unable to give a timeline for the project and repeated attempts to get details from the Toll Authority proved futile.

In the meantime, pedal cyclists continue to freely use the highway, although the Toll Road Act makes it illegal for them to use the high-speed motorway.

According to the Toll Road Act and its accompanying regulations, “riding, driving or being upon any carriage, bicycle, tricycle, or other similar machine on a toll road” is an offence for which the penalty is “a fine not exceeding $50,000, or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 30 days”.

Several pedal cyclists who reside in Portmore had, for several years, used their bicycles as their means of transport along the old causeway to get them to work and other places in Kingston. However, with the causeway converted as part of the new toll road, pedal cyclists were told to use the much longer Mandela Highway, the alternative route, to get to Kingston. The longer journey along the Mandela Highway, however, forced several pedal cyclists to use the toll road.

According to SSP Powell, it would be unfair to enforce the Toll Road Act on the hundreds of cyclists for whom commuting between Kingston and Portmore was a necessity.

“.It is really unreasonable. These people have been using the roads for a long, long time. Before the toll road came into being I think that what should have happened is that we should have made provisions for them,” the senior police superintendent told the Observer.

“What we need is a cycle track alongside the road so that at least you would separate them from the main road, but you would have made provisions for them to commute to and from Kingston. Commuting is really a necessity for them and it’s unfair to just throw the law at them,” he added.

In obvious agreement with Powell, another top-ranking cop at the traffic headquarters, who asked that his name be withheld, told the Observer that although it was dangerous for pedal cyclists to use the high-speed road, he thought it “unconstitutional” for them to be forced to use the Mandela Highway.

“Walking on it should not be (especially) because of the speed at which vehicles travel, and we have arrested persons for it before,” he said. “But it would be a breach of the person’s constitutional right if we penalised them (pedal cyclists) because they can’t reasonably be asked to divert to Mandela.”

Added SSP Powell: “The Act is not at fault. We don’t need to change the laws; what we need to do when we are constructing roads is to consider all the road users.”

Attorney-at-law Dale Staple of the St Catherine law firm Kinghorn & Kinghorn, agreed that it would be a constitutional breach if pedal cyclists were forced to use the Mandela Highway to get into Kingston.

“Under the strict application of the law, the Toll Road Act does infringe on one’s constitutional right of freedom of movement,” he said. “However, a person’s rights can be restricted if it is deemed to be for their own protection and safety,” he said.

In addition to the bicycle riders, pedestrians have been seen walking along the road and climbing over the dividing island when crossing.

“I don’t see why I have to go all the way around when I am going just over there,” said a Portmore resident who admitted crossing the high-speed highway.

The police have, however, warned that it is unsafe to walk across the high-speed road.