Dear Editor,
There is a saying in Dutch: Schoenmaker blijf bij je leest. Simply said, leave painting for painters. Because of what has become the norm (ship-jumping and throwing down of government) here on Sint Maarten, this phenomenon is plaguing the country. We keep putting amateurs in positions where professionals are needed. Ministers of Justice who never read anything pertaining to laws, Ministers of VROMI, Minister of health whose friend is a nurse, etc.
People who take decisions based on what is told to them too often without a second opinion and mostly what is good for their own pockets and their party or coalition. Still we keep saying that the Dutch are here to lock us up. My question to that is always. Did the Dutch put a gun to your head? Is not your salary enough? Does the people's money belong to you?
Here we are again. Elections are around the corner; certain people have postulated themselves and are now trying to get things done in a hurry to try to fool the people one more time. Others have said it is easy to get a 'dig-in' in those coffers. But none, absolutely none, with the interest of the people at heart.
For the longest while now, I have been suggesting for us to go to those who have proven to know what to do about traffic to get ideas on how to try to solve our traffic problems. There is no money in that, and it is in the interest of the people, so we are not interested. By now everyone should know my opinion on public transportation. We can jump high or low, the road infrastructure on Sint Maarten will not change no matter where you put the capital. So, we have to limit the number of cars on the road and regulate public transportation.
I know a certain person who enjoys walking a certain route at a specific time during the day, and constantly proves that he/she gets to the end of that route before many cars alongside, which that person started to walk on the same route. In doing so, that person observed that to every ten cars, there are only two with more passengers than only the driver.
I would always correct that person and say, 'eight out of the ten cars only has one person, which is the driver'. It is a long time now that we have not seen anyone directing traffic on any of the roads, and especially intersections. Without knowing the reason, I have to hold a certain family in government accountable and responsible for this. Most civil servants are there to serve. Directing and controlling traffic is serving the community and when that part of the service is taken away from the community because of the inability to handle it, I believe by management, that is dereliction of duty. Minister Irion should find out from the SG's where is the Control Unit? One of the most frustrating things is sitting in a car in traffic which is not going anywhere. I know that.
I am a driver and for years I have also heard the many complaints. When I headed the control unit, the people saw members of the Control Unit daily at areas of potential bottle necks and traffic jams. If I count right at this moment there are seven roundabouts on the Dutch Side of Sint Maarten, of which all are not used in the correct way by drivers because of – still after two years of Irma – the lack of correct signage.
But there is money to put bus stop-huts, even though 95 percent of them are either illegally or incorrectly placed. We rush to put the traffic lights to work again because its election time and we want to impress. No, it does not work that way. Pressing buttons causes confusion. God did not create buttons, He created man and because man did not listen, He told man that man would have to work and sweat to earn.
So, in this case no matter if the traffic lights are programmed to be able to regulate the flow of traffic in one area, there is still congestion at the roundabouts caused by man because of impatient drivers and lack of traffic controllers during peak hours. That does not take rocket science, people, that is common sense, discipline and interest in helping the people. Minister Doran could do something for the public by getting cooperation from the TEATT Minister, and putting back the Control Unit to control and direct the ever-growing traffic, especially now during the holiday and election campaign season.
And after that, as we would say, set them on those bus drivers who stop any and everywhere. Article 18 of the Traffic Ordinance covers all of that. By the way, because of the lack of traffic signs 10 and 10-A, especially tourists are constantly going the wrong way on those one-way roads in town. We should probably pay more attention to that than placing those private money-making bus stop-huts along the roads where the buses don't stop anyway.
Russell A. Simmons
