HARD ON the heels of our editorial yesterday about the dangers of drinking and driving, six persons perished in the Bog Walk Gorge, St. Catherine, early yesterday morning. Only one of the seven in an overloaded taxicab survived a collision with a truck in the dim predawn tragedy.
Early police reports indicate that the car was speeding along one of the island's more treacherous rural roadways, winding between the Rio Cobre on one side and the rugged hillside on the other. The driver having been among the victims, it is not immediately clear whether drinking was a factor; but a puddle of water on the road surface apparently induced the driver of the speeding car to swerve into the path of the truck.
All this, of course, is a tragic but timely reminder of the caution we have urged on users of the road, especially at this time of road congestion in the busy holiday season. The volume of traffic may be more critical in the urban centres, but speeding enhances the dangers on the roads outside the townships.
It is on these stretches that there is great temptation to beat the speed limits, despite the probability of police radar traps that are sometimes lying in wait. The temptation is even stronger for drivers of route taxis vying to beat the competition for passengers along the way. The road through the gorge is certainly not suitable for the kind of velocity permissible on much of Highway 2000, for example.
There are dangers also inside city limits. In many of the major streets and avenues of the Corporate Area, for example, the mushrooming number of vehicles poses challenges even to the most careful motorist. Cars of all sizes now mingle with SUVs, pickups, buses, trailer trucks, and bicyclists who no longer follow the road signs or any rules of traffic in a mad melange of confusion and potential danger.
Paradoxically in the midst of this crush, sirens from police and other emergency vehicles have often forced motorists to manoeuvre to give way as the regulations require. There is potential danger in these circumstances, as it is never easy to determine whether the sirens are coming or going.
In view of all these circumstances, we urge once more that caution be exercised on the road in town and country everywhere.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
