The perennial problem of PPV operators
Dear Editor,
The commencement of the 2024-2025 school year has been bittersweet.
Some parents celebrated their children’s success of matriculating to a higher level of learning and others dreaded the mayhem associated with the resumption of school.
And members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) mourn with their colleague, Constable Cobrina Crawford, who lost her son in a motor vehicle crash on the first morning of school. The death toll due to traffic collisions since the start of the year has been slowly creeping up to the 300 mark to catch the 425 from 2023.
Driving in Jamaica has got progressively risky, with bus and taxi operators leading the charge. The full resumption of schools on September 9 brought out the disgusting nature of public passenger vehicle (PPV) operators. There was bumper-to-bumper traffic on every road, street, and lane. PPV operators were in a frenzy as they attempted to sweep the overcrowded bus stops clean. They took over the soft shoulder, drove on the sidewalk and on the opposite side of the road, disobeyed the traffic signs, and bullied other motorists, honking their loud horns. The behaviour of bus and taxi drivers is worrying, especially with children walking on the sidewalks and crossing the roads.
It is not right for representatives of PPV operators to orchestrate demonstrations for the increase of bus and taxi fares without addressing the nasty behaviour of their members.
The operators often complain that police officers are targeting them by giving them excessive number of tickets and towing their vehicles. Other motorists, however, are thankful for the presence of the police, as they help to temper the volume of sins committed by the operators.
Our children have to travel on the roads and take public passenger vehicles, this should cause us to take special care to ensure their safety. We should remind the operators that the law also applies to them.
There is an urgent need to seriously address the actions of public passenger operators, increasing traffic fines does not seem to be working.
Hezekan Bolton
h_e_z_e@hotmail.com
