The following is Naldorrine Topey’s response to the editorial entitled “Courting death on the North Coast Highway’ in the Februray 20, 2009 edition of Daily Observer. Topey is attached to Rose Hall Developments Limited as a special assistant.

The North Coast Highway is a tremendous asset to the Montego Bay area and tourism. We may not now recall clearly the long delays we faced going into Montego Bay from the east, but the Bogue Road still reminds us of what the daily commute used to be like from Iberostar through Rose Hall to the Sangster International Airport.

When the North Coast Highway was completed and handed over, many persons recognised that whereas the Highway itself was complete, it required more traffic lights, street lights and traffic signs to make it safe. Also landscaping would have to be introduced to make the Highway beautiful and complement the elegant resorts of the area.

At the prompting of the Minister of Tourism, Ed Bartlett, in November 2007, a group of concerned stakeholders came together to form a Committee of the “Elegant Corridor” to address the safety and landscaping needs of the Highway.

The “Committee” of stakeholders within the Rose Hall area, comprises prominent business owners, resort owners and General Managers, representatives from the Tourism Enhancement Fund, Tourism Product Development Company, National Works Agency, National Solid Waste Management Authority, St James Parish Council, St James Police, Jamaica Public Service and others by invitation.

Among the issues being addressed by the Committee are:

Traffic Lights – The Committee recognises that the number of traffic lights proposed by the NWA is inadequate, and the private and public sector members of the Committee have paid for an additional eight sets of traffic lights for the NWA to install along the Highway. Some of these have already been installed, however, there remains an outstanding five units to be imported and installed by the NWA. At the urging of the Committee, traffic lights will have pedestrian crossings signals and push-button features added to protect pedestrians. The traffic lights are expected to bring a greater sense of safety along the Highway as it will prove useful in controlling the speed of the road users.

Street Lights – The Tourism Enhancement Fund has committed to funding the installation of street lights along the Highway. This, however, is a major capital improvement project and the process has taken some time due to certain statutory requirement for designs, bids and award contracts – as is appropriate for public sector funded projects – but the process is now complete and the work on the street lights will commence within the next three months.

Highway Signage – The Committee is working closely with the NWA to improve the signage along the highway. Signs alerting motorists to; changes in speed limits, schools, hospitals, pedestrian crossings and accident danger areas will be fitted along the Highway.

Speed Limits – At the request of the Committee, the NWA recently completed a study of the volume and speed of traffic along the Highway. The study revealed that road users in certain areas of the Highway are exceeding the posted speed limits by an average of as much as 50 per cent. The Committee has asked that the NWA review the speed limits along the Highway, with a view to lowering speed limits from 80km/h to 50km/h in areas where numerous accidents have already occurred and areas heavily trafficked by pedestrians.

Police Patrols – The Highway Patrol Division of the Police is working with the Committee in increasing their enforcement efforts along the Highway. The Highway Patrol is hampered – as are many divisions of the Police – by a lack of personnel and vehicles to patrol. Nonetheless, they do patrol the Highway daily, and carry out frequent speed traps. The Committee is, also, investigating the feasibility of installing and operating camera speed traps – as suggested by the Observer editorial – to provide ongoing speed limit enforcement along the Highway.

Landscaping – The Committee has designed landscaping to be installed in the common area verges and median of the Highway, and has secured the commitment of private and public sector stakeholders to maintain the landscaping and make the Highway truly the Elegant Corridor of Jamaica. The landscaping will be put in after the installation of the street lights has been completed.

Despite the efforts of the Committee, the greatest challenge faced on the Highway, and the one that we have least impacted so far, is the indiscipline of the road users.

Speeding, stopping in traffic lanes – to take on or let off passengers, pulling out in front of traffic, turning across traffic, reversing along the Highway, pedestrians waiting in undesignated areas for pickups, are all daily occurrences that must stop. The accidents, injuries and deaths have continued and we all are saddened and frustrated.

We, as a Committee and as individuals, are committed to improving the safety of the North Coast Highway. Many of our concerns are being addressed, and while improvements made have been painfully slow in coming, we recognise that the government agencies move with due process, and that this takes time. Despite all our efforts, we do not believe that we, as a Committee, or as individuals, will have any meaningful impact on the discipline of the road users. This requires a national effort that ensures that vehicle owners and operators are properly qualified, trained and tested, and that there are real penalties to breaches of the road traffic laws.