by Sidney Sweeting, DDS
My wife and I recently enjoyed a five day visit to Bermuda. Unfortunately, our enjoyment was tempered by our continuous comparison to Nassau.
It began when we were in the customs line at the airport and we heard the announcement telling us which carousel our bags would be on – what a quaint idea! On the ride in from the airport we became aware that vehicles actually stopped at traffic lights when they are signalling red -wow!
Imagine our surprise when we walked down the main street the next day and saw no garbage – none. We decided to cross the street and as we turned all the traffic stopped – because we were at a crosswalk – another novel idea!
When we were ready to return to our hotel, someone kindly told us which bus to take but neither of us had a cutlass with us and we were not in the mood for loud music. We bravely decided to take our chances. What a pleasant experience. It was a quiet ride, driven within the speed limit and it actually stopped only at designated, sheltered bus stops. What really took our breath away was when we realized that we had not seen one illegally parked vehicle.
By the third day we were aware that we had not seen any rusty, abandoned cars on the side of the roads, sitting on blocks with the wheels off, nor had we seen any old boats in the harbour with signs on them "these boats must be moved by September, 2003".
On the early morning ride back to the airport I asked the driver about the number of people who were wearing fluorescent vests while on their morning walk, and he said that it was the law. He further stated that all the laws are strictly enforced.
So, that’s the answer! Now why hasn’t the Bahamas thought of that?
In country after country what keeps people in line is enforcing the law.
What concerens me is we keep passing laws that make the Minister the judge and jury, leaving the laws subject to selective enforcement.
See this post at the Nassau Institute site:
http://www.nassauinstitute.org/wmview.php?ArtID=358
Dr. Sweeting,
You article brought a smile to my face as I am a Bermudian, married to a Bahamian and I have lived here, in Nassau, now for the last 9 years. It still amazes and annoys me at things that occur or should I say things that do not occur at red lights and stop signs.
My wife and I talk fairly often about the differences between Bermuda and the Bahamas and the road side cleanliness is definitely one of them. My personal view is that it simply comes down to pride in what one has. If each person kept his yard and the area directly in fron of his yard clean the improve cleanliness of the Bahamas (Nassau in particular) would be dramatic.
I must say that growing up in Bermuda and sitting on a couple of Government Boards, in particular the Bermuda Road Safety Council allows me to have some ideas that could dramatically help the Bahamas traffic and public trasportation situation.
Unfortunately my ideas would probably not be politically expedient, not in the short-term anyway but I do believe they would be very effective. Please note, I am not referring to the one car per household as is the case in Bermuda.
You may wonder what stops me from addressing this, well, it is simple really, everything in the Bahamas is politicised even ideas that would be of value to the Bahamas in the long-term.
One thing that has been on my mind is why the Bahamas has never (maybe it has but I just haven’t seen it) looked to a formalised Sustainable Development Strategy. Bermuda in going through this process now, although a large part of me believes that the horse has already galloped through the gate.
The Bahamas, however, especially with the rapid development of land, in my humble opinion needs to look at where it wants to be in 10, 15, 20 years and beyond.