Rick Lowe
On Thursday evening it took us one hour to get from Dowdeswell Street, along Bay Street to Village Road. That's right, one hour to drive about 2.7miles.
Since then I've heard numerous complaints about how bad our road system is.
But is it really our road system?
We witnessed jitneys going back and forth from lane to lane, people taking back roads to come out just three or four cars ahead. People blocking intersections and lines of cars running out when a courteous driver was letting one car out. Not to mention people driving down the right lane only to cut across at the Village Road extension to get ahead of the patient drivers in the left lane.
The straw that broke the proverbial back, and my temper, was the darn, no, the DAMN prisoner bus comes screaming through with two or three idiots forcing their way behind to get ahead of the traffic.
All of this slows the traffic down, where if we drove with common courtesy and did not block intersections I am convinced the traffic will flow better.
We all know we can't make most of the roads wider so if we settled down and let the traffic flow properly instead of so many people interrupting the flow to get four cars ahead, I'm convinced it would all work better.
So when it rains or there's an accident, traffic becomes a "daymare". With just a little common decency it might simply be a bad dream.
And by the way, 98.1 FM calmed us down, but we were still most annoyed by all the idiots on the road.
What's your take?
My Take?
I left Nassau 28 years ago due largely to traffic!!
I was even on a motor bike at the time, but that got dangerous.
The Checci report spoke directly to this issue in
1968-9.
Pity we couldn’t see the sensibility of dealing with it then.
Go West young man……….
I usually wait in the office to let the traffic clear a bit but we got a call informing us that our alarm system had been activated at home so I jumped in the car and got as far as church street and did not move for about ten minutes.
Before reaching the bridge the four-wheeled cowboys came rushing through the traffic (there has to be a better way before someone gets killed). I finally had to give up and return to the office.
My wife and I had a similar experience coming from the passport office at 5pm. In the two hours that we were crawling in traffic the only policeman we saw was one on a motorbike escorting some official, forcing everyone to the sidewalks.
When I come from the east at 6:30 in the morning there is a steady flow of traffic because each car lets one out of the side streets. Are the people from the east more civilised and don’t believe that the rules of the road should apply to everyone but them?
There is a SOLUTION! The politicans dont want to hear it though.
All the traffic problems that currently plauge Nassau today could have been avoided many years ago if poliitcans did not want to control peoples lives. Had they had foresight to encourage developers to do some of their projects in some of the family islands Nassua would not have become over populated. New Providence is the smallest of the major islands yet it has the greatest percentage of people living there, this not only causes the vehicular overcrowding but crime as well. I am given to understand that the beautiful Cat Island has a decreasing population, there is the very old and the very young, no middle age or teens as they leave home to make a living in Nassau. There could be a limit put on vehicles per family in Nassau but no elected official is prepared to touch that since votes mean more than the welfare of the nation.
What is currently happening at ZNS, is this a foretaste of more to come at other of the peoples corporations? Is Mr. Ingraham making these moves to pave the way for Mr. Christie to win the next election and he (Mr. Christie) can say that I did not do it? If this is the scenario being played out? Mr. Ingraham and the FNM should act like statesmen and bite the bullet and take the fall for future generations of Bahamians. On second thought Mr. Christie would just hire his cronies back…it is like the soap operas on TV, never ending. I still believe the “Conch Salad Party” is the answer.
I don’t quite understand your reasoning. You say that the reason for the traffic problem is that politicians want to control people’s lives, then you further on go on to state that you want the govt. (aka politicians) to limit the number of vehicles per family, if that’s not controlling people’s lives I don’t know what is!
In fact one would argue that if the politicians had exerted more control and regulation over development in Nassau in the past 30 years, the traffic problem may not have been so bad.
I personally feel it will only continue to get worst, because Nassau was and is becoming more and more an urban center. The key is, to have a proper public transportation system, one that’s not set up the way it is now, with individual franchise owners, but just one system, where each individual driver is not looking to make profit for himself and his company/boss. Similiar to just about all public transporation systems in many other cities, where there aren’t individual franchise. Eg. There isn’t different companies running the subway in New York.
Other than that, well you just have to leave early to get wherever it is you are going on time, yep it surely does cut into your quality of life. But hey, if i didn’t have to make a living I’d probably leave Nassau and go chill out on some deserted Family Island, but I have bills to pay.
Larry: I guess I did not make it clear what I was thinking. I will now try.
The polliticans want to control lives/votes and get elected. The more people they can cram into certain small areas the more influence they can have over them. Bermuda has a limit on how many vehicles a family can own so why can’t the Bahamas do the same for the island of New Providence? This would not necessarily control lives it would be the beginning of reducing the traffic congestion in New Providence. The next step would be to encourage development in other islands which would create job opportunities for people like yourself to make a move.
One way of controlling the number of cars on the road is to make them more expensive to purchase. the recent increase in the tariff should have some effect in reducing the number.
This may or may not be acceptable to some as it may not fill the criteria of “fairness” in that the wealthy will still be able to afford a second car whereas the less affluent will not.
The population numbers of Nassau are bound to be affected by the growing crime rate. Those who can leave are relocating to the Family Islands. A slow process but still a factor. Perhaps the older generation will be joining their kids in the family islands when they retire????
In my opinion one of the easiest ways to tackle crime on this island is to effectively police traffic. Seems incredible, i know.
Based on broken windows theory if we can correct seemingly minor traffic violations we can prevent major crimes. I believe traffic in New Providence is a microcosm of our entire crime problem.
I wrote about it here on my blog.
Effective policing of traffic would have 3 immediate benefits
Increase in government revenue from fines of traffic violations
Better traffic flow as a result of enforcement of traffic laws
More arrest for serious crimes, such as gun possession,drugs, etc
As it stands right now, criminals have the run of the island. They travel where ever they please, carrying with them guns, drugs and knives.
If they knew they were likely to be stopped by police would they feel so free to ride around terrorizing the island?
Four words: move to Grand Bahama
We’ve got inexpensive land, the best infrastructure in the entire country and many opportunities for creative entrepreneurs. Your cost of doing business is ultimately lower, your quality of life is higher.
I lived in Nassau for 20 years and Grand Bahama for 10. I fully understand the differences. Sure, Grand Bahama has its challenges, but if more [decent] people moved here the economy would grow and everybody — including the government, who profits every year from Freeport — wins.