Dear Editor,

I found interesting and instructive Ken Spencer’s letter to the editor, headlined ‘A suh Costa bus drive’, published in the December 20, 2010 edition of the Observer.

The letter related a story of recklessness that characterised the general road behaviour of many Coaster bus operators on the road. This behaviour contributes to the general disorder in the society.

Years ago, I saw a lone woman driver block a Coaster bus below the intersection of Shortwood and Constant Spring roads. She did it just in time to attract the attention of a police patrol coming in the opposite direction. It appeared to have been a hit-and-run situation.

On January 6 this year, I was coming out of the Oaklands housing complex to make a left turn onto Constant Spring Road. It was about 9:50 am. Sitting in the car at the stop light, I noticed a marked security jeep pull up and block a Coaster bus at the bus stop.

The driver of the security jeep came out and went to the bus door, dragged out the ‘ducta’ and proceeded to box him repeatedly. I saw the entire event as I slowly drove by and noticed the markings on the jeep.

I was not able to find out what spurred the driver of the jeep’s action, but it appeared that the ‘ducta’ may have offended him.

Mark you, these drivers and conductors are major pains on the roads each day. But even so, I think that the security guard was very wrong to have done what he did.

The Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of National Security should meet and formulate a road behaviour policy and establish an effective urban and rural transport service. If we have to lock down these Coaster operations to have peace and order on the roads and in our communities, then we must do so in the interest of safety.

L Brown

Kingston 8