Dear Editor,
After the traffic chaos that occurred on the West Coast Berbice on Sunday, I am sure that GT’s finest are in their situation room trying to figure out how to avoid similar occurrences for the motor race event at South Dakota this weekend and the Cricket Carnival at the Stadium next month, both of which would require innovative traffic management along the other main artery which provides ingress and egress to the city, the main international airport, Linden and Lethem.
Alas, if last Sunday is anything to go by, the hierarchy of the GPF is bereft of traffic management skills, were either unaware of or oblivious to what was occurring, or otherwise just threw their collective hands up in the air in despair. It would seem that a solution only became a priority when the sport event drew to a close, and special invitees had to make their way out of the race track. Later on Sunday night, as a traffic rank in the city admonished me not to tell him how to do his job – never mind the solution he employed is one that I had suggested to him shortly before – he allowed that Traffic Chief Ashram had retired. I know not who is now the green-horn at the helm of this important police department, but to the Force’s leadership I offer some free, friendly advice, ahead of the impending events:
1. Identify and anticipate the problem, so that the appropriate solution(s) can be employed; in my estimation, it is excessive speed and dangerous/reckless driving, caused by impatient and discourteous drivers. The latter was on full display on the West Coast – in fact it precipitated the problem – and will again be on the East Bank, as drivers take the opposite lane and then bore back into the driving lane in the face of oncoming traffic. The more stubborn and uncouth drivers just simply refuse to move, which encourages other louts to follow suit, thereby causing the unnecessary buildup and inordinate delay.
2. Station two patrol cars at the corner where the Linden Highway meets the back entrance to the circuit, and two more at the Madewini police outpost, to await the end of the day’s event.
3. The Commanding Officer on the ground at the circuit should inform those patrol cars when the race meet is officially over.
4. As it should take about 20-30 minutes for vehicles to exit the circuit and be on the road on their return journey, the patrol cars can, after that elapsed time, set off ahead of the traffic with flashing lights, occupying both driving lanes. Patrons who used their foresight and left early before the end of the event in order to avoid the confusion should be able to proceed ahead of the patrol cars.
5. The two patrol cars can lead the traffic along the road maintaining a brisk rate approaching the maximum 50 m.p.h. (80 k.p.h) limit, so long as driving conditions permit. This should quell criticism of the police delaying the patrons’ return journey, as well as deter impatient drivers from overzealousness.
6. While one patrol car stays in the west/northbound driving lane to keep the traffic in check, the second will occupy the east/southbound lane to prevent overtaking from impatient drivers behind, yielding of course to allow for the passage of east/southbound traffic – importantly, airline passengers departing on Sunday night. Unlike what obtains during the rush hours on the East Bank when a third lane is commandeered, it is only the second patrol car which will be proceeding in the opposite direction using the east/southbound lane; the convoy of traffic will proceed at a steady clip behind the first patrol car in the west/northbound driving lane.
7. To make this work, patrol bikes would have to accompany the convoy to Georgetown, at strategic gaps along the route. They will monitor disruptive and adventurous drivers who still venture out of the convoy into the opposite lane.
The patrolman can make an audio or video recording of the vehicle number/description and he can relay this information to ranks at checkpoints set up along the route – the Linden Soesdyke junction, somewhere in the vicinity of the Falls Gas station, the GDF Garden of Eden farm, Grove Police Station, wherever. The errant driver can be intercepted at a checkpoint and given a ticket, or simply delayed on the roadside for a period of five to fifteen minutes, as the penalty for his impatience and for inconveniencing other road users and possibly putting their lives at risk.
8. Planners have to anticipate possible flash points/bottlenecks and deploy foot patrols and motor cycle back-up to enforce the law – at the junction, and other popular bars along the route, especially in Grove, where double parking and other indiscriminate road use can impede the smooth flow of traffic.
Importantly, a bottleneck will arise at the Linden Soesdyke junction, where the two streams of returning race fans will merge. Here the traffic ranks would have to be creative and refrain from the short-sighted approach they robotically employ in such situations, of alternately stopping all traffic from either side, thereby causing a traffic build up and perpetuating the delay and increasing the motorists’ frustration. The common-sense alternative, which can be employed by ranks everywhere – by the Harbour Bridge, the Diamond junction, by the Ogle traffic lights on the East Coast or on Sheriff Street, when there are major events at the National Cultural Centre, or whenever a “big boy” (or girl) is traversing our roadways and traffic awaiting their motorcade is restrained – would be to allow traffic to alternate from either side – in this case, one vehicle from the Highway, one vehicle from Soesdyke, one from the Highway, one from Soesdyke and so on. Result: there is no aggravated traffic build up on either side, traffic keeps moving in a steady and managed way from both directions, and stress levels are managed.
The two patrol cars that escorted spectators from the Madewini outpost can lead the merged convoy to Georgetown – say the Harbour Bridge – and then head back up to Soesdyke to provide support for this managed exercise, while monitoring the continuing flow of traffic in the opposite direction to Georgetown. On the assumption that the scope for traffic shenanigans is greater along the highway, the other two patrol cars can return to the junction where they started and lead a second wave of escorted traffic. The method of traffic management cited above, of alternating traffic from either side, would be of immense value for the cricket carnival when matches are over, for example to alternate single vehicles from the East Bank and the Princess Hotel, the Massy access road, the exit of the VIP car park in the Stadium, or cars exiting the road leading to the VVIP entrance aback of the Stadium. This would replace the incredibly time-wasting solution currently employed of having cricket fans heading to Georgetown first proceed to the Green Acres area to make U-turn. Similarly, those fans going to watch cricket and using the East Bank route can be escorted by two patrol cars beginning from the Mandela Avenue and Hunter Street intersection, with roving patrol bikes carrying out a similar monitoring function along the route to the Stadium. Admittedly, traffic ranks would face a bigger challenge when cricket is played in the evening during the week, as account would also have to be taken of the usual afternoon rush hour traffic. However the journey from Mandela Avenue to the Stadium is very much shorter than that from Timehri to Georgetown.
As regards the other access route to the Stadium, it is both urgent and immediate that the GPF and the Ministry of Public Works meet to work out a solution to the address the bottleneck between the two new bypass roads, occasioned by extensive on-going road works that requires a detour of all traffic in both directions through an adjacent residential area. It still boggles my mind why President Ali was advised that he could have publicly declared those two stretches of new road open, when major additional work linking the two roadways remains outstanding up to now, thereby jeopardizing the attraction of a shortened commute. At the very least, if the road works would not be complete before the CPL games, repairs and expansion work will have to be done on the detour route through the residential area, to accommodate the additional traffic next month. A similar two car police escort of those going to watch cricket using this alternative route could commence at the South Ruimveldt roundabout, adjusted of course to navigate the detour.
These suggestions are not intended to eliminate the problems, but rather to mitigate them. As information is power, if the GPF sees any merit in what is written here, or if it intends to put any other measures in place to address the anticipated traffic congestion this weekend and next month, they should seize the opportunity to inform the public in advance. By working along in a hearts and minds campaign and sharing information with the motorists, a repeat of last Sunday’s chaos could be avoided. Over to you, Mr. Traffic Chief.
Sincerely,
Neville Bissember