Dear Editor,

Have you ever been driving along, singing your favourite song, feeling good, when suddenly you hear a loud sound and your vehicle starts to dance the Stir Fry? If you are a Jamaican, you would know that you just burst your tyre in a pothole.

Now the issue of bad roads in Jamaica is more famous than Usain Bolt’s 100m record. The most recent protest over bad roads was in St Thomas, where the residents mounted roadblocks demanding better road conditions. It has become the norm in Jamaica that, for your voice to be heard about anything beneficial to the citizens, there has to be some form of inconvenience or destruction — for the police to get an extra per cent they have to stage sick-outs, for teachers to be recognised they have to immigrate, for the Government to roll back the gas tax there had to be an islandwide riot, and on it goes.

Over the years there has been an increase in the number of autoparts shops opening on our island and they have been flourishing due to subsequent governments’ failure to provide good roads. The country continues to spend billions on road repairs due to substandard construction and no maintenance. Small holes are not only allowed to widen across roads but to cause accidents and unnecessary financial burden on vehicle owners. The potholes are most dangerous at nights when they play pee-ka-boo on badly lit roads.

Conversely, the toll road operators can teach the Government a thing or two about road maintenance. They do not wait on potholes to widen across the highway for them to resurface metres and metres of road.

The Government of Jamaica should be compensating motorists for damage to their vehicles caused by its inability to provide suitable roads on which to drive.

It goes without saying that Jamaica is a beautiful island, but, unfortunately, its residents are forced to look overseas for a better standard of living.

Hezekan Bolton

h_e_z_e@hotmail.com