Dear Editor,

I do not wish to be a doomsday prophet, but one day there is going to be a major, catastrophic motor vehicle crash at the entrance/exit of the Iberostar Hotel in Montego Bay. It is a disaster waiting to happen. A service road or ramp should have been a part of the requirements for the approval of the permit, but apparently there was no thought given to this necessity.

And, as a result we now have motor coaches, delivery trucks, public passenger vehicles and staff vehicles entering and leaving the facility, while going through a security screen, just five metres away from the busy main road.  

Oftentimes, vehicles are parked on the hard and soft shoulders impeding traffic flow and entering the driving lanes at many different points. And further, there is the picking-up and setting down of passengers on either side of the main road. There is a clear and present danger just around the corner.

While driving along that roadway yesterday, I observed a tractor trailer speeding along the area, heading east, going at no less than 100 kmph and overtaking on the grid lines in front of the hotel’s entrance /exit. There is no way this driver could have brought his vehicle to a stop, had a motor coach with staff or tourists entered the roadway at the same time.

Sadly, this is not a situation unknown to the Municipality; the National Works Agency, or the local traffic committee.

Why can’t we just get the small, simple things right?

Mark A Hylton