by ASHADA JOSEPH and CHOISELLE JOSEPH
Many motorists believe roundabouts are the best solution to reduce traffic congestion on the island’s roads.
These views follow a call made by Senior Minister Dr William Duguid during last week Tuesday’s sitting of the House of Assembly to utilise traffic lights instead of roundabouts as Government sought to find ways to decrease growing traffic congestion.
Some motorists spoke to the MIDWEEK NATION, sharing views that roundabouts allowed for the easy flow of traffic while traffic lights served as a major contributor to the problem.
“I believe the roundabouts help more than the stoplights,” said Ian Grimes, a motorist who was at the Sol gas station, Black Rock, St Michael.
“I usually take roads to avoid stoplights if I am trying to get somewhere quickly.”
He revealed he lived in an area that saw him commuting through Jackson and Warrens, both in St Michael, where there was a constant build-up of traffic.
Grimes suggested a roundabout be placed in the area leading up to Six Roads, St Philip, where several road accidents had occurred, admitting he even tried to be cautious when coming close to such a “high-risk area”.
Another motorist, Shackeem Reid, who was also at the gas station, shared a different view. While he said roundabouts were the best bet, he also agreed that “traffic lights were not bad because they had sensors and didn’t cause a lot of traffic”.
The experienced driver said there was usually much traffic congestion on the ABC Highway and, like Grimes, he called for a roundabout in the area of Six Roads as well.
Andrew Herbert also proposed that roundabouts were more efficient than traffic lights because they kept the flow of traffic going.
“When you ready to go, you go, you don’t have to stop,” he said.
Herbert, like Reid and Grimes, said the area heading to Six Roads as well as Warrens were in need of roundabouts to help with the backlog
of traffic.
Motorist Vashti Williams, who was at Warrens, preferred roundabouts as opposed to traffic lights. She said the latter “caused bare stress”.
“Roundabouts are easier for traffic to flow and a lot of traffic is backed up at the traffic lights sometimes. When you’re at the roundabout, people can move faster, compared to when you are stuck at a traffic light for three minutes or so, which is longer.”
She said most people faced traffic troubles, especially those making their way from the country into The City.
Wilmar Scantlebury expressed a preference for roundabouts because they facilitated a faster flow
of traffic.
“From my experience driving 40 years, roundabouts are better. For example, when I was young, the stoplight by Lower Collymore Rock by the Government building, had a crossing, then it was traffic lights. Now it changed to where there is no lights,” he said.
He also pointed to Westmoreland, St James, as an area with heavy traffic congestion potentially caused by traffic lights.
“Westmoreland is a good example. It takes so long . . . because of the stoplights. I can tell you from my experience roundabouts is the best option for me as an experienced driver,” Scantlebury said.
Ariana Marshall is of the opinion that both traffic lights and roundabouts could be effective in different locations.
“You have to look at both depending on where it is. You would have a lot of traffic along the highway and then you have an alternate route to St George where there are roundabouts.
“So I would say look at the country, depending on where they were already. The issue here is the availability of land, and I don’t see anywhere where stoplights can be added,” she said.
She added that the Warrens area needed stoplights. It is an area familiar to her as she
grew up there, pointing out the extensive transformation it has undergone over the years.
Marshall also emphasised the importance of making infrastructure decisions with the input of a range of perspectives and creating incentives for shared transportation.
“A little bit of history . . . . my family used live out here when this (Sol gas station in Warrens) was just cane and it was the first development in the area. There is an issue with the lollipop in the area which is a result of how the expansion has happened in Warrens and has not been planned with everyone involved,”
she said.
“There are ways to look at windows of time, when traffic can go in certain directions; it’s not just about expansion,” she said.
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