Dear Editor,

This has been an issue of serious concern for me for a long time as the police have been using these “speed traps” as exactly that, a trap, and a means of illegally earning some extra money to augment their income.

This approach does not, in any way, prevent speeding and poor driving on the roadways. It serves more as an interference and annoyance for law-abiding drivers as they are invariably placed in areas where the police know that the designated speed limit will always be exceeded by motorist, not because they are indiscipline but because the speed zone designations are outdated and impractical.

There are areas designated as 50km/hr zones where there are no residential communities, schools or churches and very little economic or pedestrian activities. An example of this is the Sir Florizel Glasspole/Michael Manley Boulevard. This zone is, amazingly, a 50 km/hr zone, and the police certainly abuse it. The zone ought to be upgraded to 80km/hr; however, the portion along Windward Road from the intersection with Sir Florizel Glasspole to downtown, travelling along the old Windward Road, should remain 50km/hr.

Modern motor vehicles have technology that allow vehicles to stop in much shorter distances than the 50s and 60s when most of the existing speed zones were determined.

Speed is not the major contributor to accidents, but rather indiscipline, poor vehicle condition, and poor road conditions. Unfortunately, the authorities tend to, misleadingly, identify speed as the only cause of crashes on the road.

I put it to the police and the Government that random spot checks will be a better deterrent to the indiscipline on the roads because, as it is done now, every driver on the road, including the feared taxi operators, know exactly where the police set up their traps and behave like angels when approaching these known areas but, as soon as they pass, the indiscipline starts again.

A review of the speed limit within certain zones is needed, as well as more creativity in the location of speed traps.

Dave Carruthers

Portmore, St Catherine

salmondrc@yahoo.com