Dear Editor,
Minibus drivers depend on their passengers for a living, and the passengers depend on them to get from one point to another. If there is mutual respect, there should be no reason for minibus drivers to be polluting young minds with vulgar and loud music, and our elders with obscene language if they object to being dragged into a minibus, refuse to share a seat, or ask the driver to slow down.
I reside in Lamaha Gardens, which is supposed to be a residential area, but I can tell you that recently, living here has become a living hell. There is constant noise: big trucks, including sand trucks, trucks with 40 foot containers, motor bikes, music carts, dray carts and donkey carts. Under these circumstances it is impossible to find a minute of quiet even to say your prayers at 4 am, carry on a telephone conversation or listen to the television without missing half of what is being said.
From the time the minibus drivers reach the Duncan Street and Eastern Highway junction, they put one foot on the accelerator and one hand on the horn, and this stretch of the road becomes a race track, all the way to the turn-off into Sophia.
Shouldn’t all residential areas have speed limits that are enforced?
Furthermore, aren’t the residents in these areas entitled to some peace and quiet, and be able to visit a friend on foot, without fear of being struck by vehicles travelling recklessly at a high rate of speed especially when children also live in these areas?
Would it be too much for the Traffic Chief to review this situation with a view to installing two to three sleeping policemen (speed bumps) along this stretch of Eastern Highway, as they have done along Stone Avenue in Campbellville, and on Pike Street into Prashad Nagar; these seem to be helping to slow down the speeders. Alternatively, they should detail police officers to issue traffic tickets to speeders and overloaded minibuses.
For you to truly understand just how impossible this situation has become, you would have to experience firsthand the loud music which vibrates through the house; the constant, blowing of horns; and the exhaust fumes, just to name a few things which make daily life in this residential area exceedingly stressful. I am positive that other residential areas are experiencing this problem and that the traffic police could assist with it.
Yours faithfully,
Joyce Rockcliffe
