MONTEGO BAY, St James — Deputy mayor of Montego Bay, Councillor Richard Vernon, has raised concerns over what he describes as confusion in the roles and responsibilities of various agencies in regulating the usage of thoroughfares across the second city.

Vernon’s concerns came on the heels of news that Montego Bay’s mayor, Councillor Leeroy Williams, was involved in a motor vehicle accident one week ago. It was reported that the Prado SUV that was being driven by Mayor Williams hit a parked trailer in the vicinity of Ironshore.

Comments made by concerned citizens across social media platforms all indicated worry over the practice of large vehicles being left overnight on the sides of major thoroughfares in the Montego Bay area.

When the Jamaica Observer raised that concern with Councillor Vernon, he, too, shared that it had been unsettling as he has seen the thoroughfares being used for car washes, parking lots, and car marts. He, however, sought to explain that there was “an overlapping of roles and responsibilities” which could account for the roads across the city not being properly managed.

“I want to put something forward — the roles and responsibilities of ministries, agencies, and departments are still not working in the best interest of the citizens because of the overlapping of the roles and responsibilities between the ministry departments and agencies and the municipal corporations,” bemoaned Vernon.

Pointing out that the St James Municipal Corporation (SJMC) is in charge of the parochial roads, Vernon told the Sunday Observer that there are two Acts that govern the management of roads across the island. These are the Main Roads Act and the Road Traffic Act, which came into effect earlier this year.

“There is a Main Roads Act and under this Act the National Works Agency [NWA] has responsibilities,” Vernon said.

He continued, “Now the Main Roads Act…speaks to vehicles parked along a roadway, how they should be parked and identified. It said that vehicles must be identified if they are parked at night, or if they have stopped for longer than the expected period, they are to have red reflective lights and white reflective lights that can be identified from a distance for the oncoming traffic. But that is where it stops. It is silent on how you go about carrying out the rest of the actions associated with it.”

At the same time, the deputy mayor called for more action by the NWA, as he said motorists have been utilising the thoroughfares to carry out businesses.

“The National Works Agency must be more vigilant with their roadways and they have to take some action. There is no way roadways should be used for garage operation and parking lots,” he said.

“We manage the parking in the town spaces, and as I said, there are certain areas where the roles are overlapping and that results in the citizens and the city not getting the requisite service needed. We are sitting here looking at parochial roads and leaving the main roads because we think that the National Works Agency should have the capacity to deal with it. Apparently, they don’t,” the deputy mayor said.

However, while carefully reading the Main Roads Act, the Sunday Observer recognised that the legislation does not award much authority to the agency. According to the Main Roads Act, the penalty for leaving vehicles carries a $4 price tag.

“Any person who leaves any carriage upon any main road, except in case of an accident, or in that case for a longer time than is necessary to remove the same — four dollars,” the Main Roads Act said under Section 26 subsection 15.

“Carriage includes carts, wagons, drays, wheeled carriages of every description, bicycles, tricycles, and other similar machines,” the Act stated.

In furthering his point, the deputy mayor told the Sunday Observer that the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) and the Island Traffic Authority also have a shared responsibility to monitor the usage of thoroughfares under the Road Traffic Act.

“Outside of that, there is the Jamaica Constabulary Force, and from their perspective, they should be monitoring the space under the Road Traffic Act. If you look at the Road Traffic Act carefully, it tells you that the constable should be the judge of how a vehicle is parked on the reservation,” the deputy mayor said.

“It also tells you that the constable has the authority to have it removed, so the police must take some responsibility where these things are concerned,” added Vernon.

Vernon stated that efforts will be made to address the concerns about the usage of thoroughfares across the second city. He told the Sunday Observer that while that will be done locally, “some of these things should be ironed out from the top”.

“What I’m going to do is to call a meeting with the National Works Agency, Island Traffic Authority, and the Jamaica Constabulary Force so we can look at these areas. That will take us a little bit of time, but we are going to look at areas where we will be restricting parking. But, in the meantime, the Act states how we must deal with these repeated situations,” he said.

“There are too many agencies with the same responsibilities, it is not working out,” said Vernon.