By Francine Black, Staff ReporterTHE NATIONAL Works Agency (NWA) has implemented additional safety measures for pedestrians using Constant Spring Road near its juncture with Dunrobin Avenue, days after the death of a young Merl Grove student.
According to Vando Palmer, communications manager for the NWA, it has moved up its planned road work for the Constant Spring/Half- Way Tree area to ensure that safety features are put in place for pedestrians.
Shakara Harris, a first form student of Merl Grove, was hit by a car on Friday while crossing Constant Spring Road to get to her school.
On Sunday the NWA brightened the lines of the alternative pedestrian crossings at Dunrobin by the stop light. The lines dividing the roadway have also been brightened and repainted where necessary.
COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED
Following Shakara's death, Merl Grove said the incident could have been avoided if its pleas for a pedestrian crossing were heard. The school argued that the crossing at Dunrobin was too far from the bus stop. The bus stop is close to the school.
In light of this, a NWA and Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) agreement will see the buses stopping approximately 50 yards from the crossing on the left side of the road the side opposite the school so students can use the proper crossing.
Discussions are under way for land nearby to construct a permanent bus bay there.
The school is also involved in the new plans, and has agreed to the NWA's request to move its pedestrian warden to the new crossing, where he can better assist students.
Also to come are the much needed school zone signs which NWA said are being built and will be installed soon.
"Additional signs will be put in place by the end of the week," Mr. Palmer said.
BEARING SOME RESPONSIBILITY
In the meantime the children's welfare organisation, Hear The Children's Cry, has asked the NWA to bear some responsibility for Shakara's death.
"The National Works Agency has to take responsibility for the negligence in not providing a safe crossing for these children, after taking away the pedestrian crossing," Betty Ann Blaine, committee convener, said in a statement.
However Mr. Palmer has dismissed these claims, sighting them as "baseless" and "irresponsible". He pointed out that the agency had provided an alternative for the past eight months since the old crossing was removed, therefore the committee's claims that it had done nothing, he said, were "not true."
The children group has also called on the government to introduce or restore "school zones" in busy areas. This, it said, should be accompanied by "draconian" measures to discourage the "reckless and out of control driving."
"How many more deaths of children do we have to see on the roads before something is done?... the government should immediately introduce, or restore "school zones", particularly for schools that are on busy thoroughfares and enforce slower speeds by vehicles in these areas. That is absolutely essential now," Mrs. Blaine said.
