Dear Editor,
I should like to refer to the area around Stabroek Market – South to Lombard Street, East to the Avenue of the Republic, and North to GPO building as Confusion Square.
Everyday there is utter confusion and madness as it relates to usage of the roads, and facilities in this belt. Motorists, pedestrians, stall-holders, itinerant vendors and touts all seem to use the same space at the same time. How they do it is amazing. They swerve, dash, run, shout, crisscross- whatever it takes to avoid collision. It is truly a dynamic scene. An elderly woman was hit on the 1st October in the confusion belt outside Demico. Last Friday afternoon a young lady was walking from Plaisance Bus Park east to Regent Street. She was struck by a minibus between the two streets on the bridge. The bus was heading west.
Suggestions for the improvement include:
1. Separate bus terminuses; find more space for the buses.
2. Confine the buses so that they line up in slots by using concrete ridges on both sides. There should be one entrance and one exit. A small area will therefore accommodate more buses and passengers will fill the front bus first; the buses will line up and take off in order. This happens to some extent North-East of Demico.
3. Remove stalls that obstruct traffic, whether vehicular or pedestrian traffic.
4. Prosecute offenders. Demico has a sheltered narrow walkway but people choose the road to walk because of vending there and the limers -too much hustle and bustle to make it from one end to the next.
5. Educate the users of the road. Attitudes need to change for the better.
6. The police need to be more authoritative; their presence seems to attract rather than disperse crowds.
7. Road users must take greater responsibility for their safety. Many tend to take silly risks on the roads ever so often.
Too many road users fail to observe the five Cs while using the roads especially in the confusion belt where the parapets are utilized for vending, forcing the pedestrians to use the road. By the way the five Cs are Care, Consideration, Caution, Courtesy and Commonsense. If these are adhered to there would be greater safety, less accidents, and free flow of traffic for all.
Yours faithfully,
Hilmon Henry
