Taxi operators who ply the Montego Bay to Hopewell route stage a protest on Monday over bad road conditions.
A damaged and uneven stretch of roadway along the Unity Hall main road in St James drew the ire of several public passenger operators who staged a peaceful protest on Monday over its state.
The drivers, who withdrew their services for most of the morning, were armed with placards and called on the authorities to deal with the roadway that they say has been in a deplorable state for more than a year.
Taxi operator Isaac, who plies the Montego Bay to Hopewell route, said the roadway has become a dangerous place to drive especially for unsuspecting individuals.
“This route is prone to a lot of accident. Right now one of my co-worker write-off Friday gone. His bus write [off] sake of somebody swing on the next side just in order to avoid the bad road. A next man come and lick him and write-off his vehicle,” he told the Jamaica Observer.
He said only by being alert and watching for those dangers along that road has kept him from serious damage to both himself and his vehicle.
“If I wasn’t using my mirror, a lot of time my bus would have been damaged,” he said, pointing to a damaged portion of the rear of his Toyota Voxy that he said is a result of that roadway.
It was a similar cry from fellow operator Andrade Christie, who said, swinging to avoid the rough road surface is a common daily occurrence.
“This road is a very, very bad road. Sometimes we are on it, I just see people swinging all over the roadway,” he said.
“There is so many accident happening on the road. Just last week Friday one of my co-workers crash right here so, as where I stand right now, and it is the same thing happened because of the swinging,” he further added.
He also pointed out that the visuals do not seem as bad as they are making it out to be, but explained that it was something motorists will feel when they are driving.
“Just looking on the road, you are not going to see it like that, you have to be in a vehicle and drive and feel the surface of the road and it is very bumpy,” he explained.
Christie is predicting that if something is not done soon, deaths may be the unwanted result.
“Sometimes, you see some crazy driver just a drive fast and anything can happen,” he stated.
For Ras Makonnen Tafari Ellis, another operator on the Montego Bay to Hopewell route, motorists, especially taxi operators, face a problem of eroding vehicle parts and penalties from the authorities when these are found.
“If you can look at the state and the condition of the road, it is mashing up our vehicles and you have the Transport (Authority) who live on this road and more while you have the examiners here,” he stated.
“When the road mash up our vehicle now and the examiners they are here, remember if there is any defect on our vehicle it is going on the wrecker and they are here like three, four times for the week,” he lamented.
Will, another operator, also spoke about the impact it has been having on his vehicle.
“I have a 2012 Voxy. Two months now, I’m plying and my front end have to go to the garage. It’s a 2012 bus and it come out brand-new from the mart to this road,” he stated. “As you make the money, you spend it back on parts.”
The motorists are demanding an immediate fix to the roadway and say, going forward, if something is not done to remedy the situation, they will return.
“We will be back if them no fix it soon. And if we no hear something ’bout it soon, we back out here and a more things,” one man stated about their future plans.
For Will and his fellow operators, they have taken a stance that if the authorities won’t fix the road for local motorists, they are urging that they do so in the interest of the tourism product.
“This is the main road that the tourists use to go to Negril, this is the main road that tourists use to go to Round Hill, this is the main road that they use to go to Tryall. So why can’t they fix it?” he asked.
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