Speedy Conclusions... (Speed, Dividers & Death)

In all of the talk surrounding the tragic accident involving the Acting Chief Justice that claimed the lives of four young people, no one is accepting the responsibility that we as a people all bear and I think we need to bring the discussion back to there if we hope to salvage anything from this at all. The stark reality is that that accident could not have occurred as it did were we not so lazy and irresponsible with our governance and our democracy, and the fact that our Ministers turn out to be incompetent after appointment in no way excuses it for continuing to remain so. The thing pivots on the fact that not only do we get the government we deserve, we get the governance we tolerate. It is a sad indictment on all of us that we continue to tolerate this sad state of affairs that only asks so many questions and answers none of them convinvingly. What could be at the heart of this irresponsible abdication of the nation's and its people's interest? Many have said that the required intervention can be manufactured here locally in the form of the globally employed New Jersey concrete dividers utilizing local raw materials and local labour to build as well as install, and in these times of out of work contractors, can someone tell me why we are not going this route?

Yes we need massive re-education as to rights and responsibilities of citizens and road use, but more importantly we need protective enforcement. Speeding happens because speeding is allowed, and while the law of the land can be easily frustrated, in too many instances the cost of the lesson that the laws of physics cannot is being paid for in blood; zero to sixty is one thing, but sixty to zero is something else entirely. The time for us burying our heads in the sand is long past as the simple act of driving from one place to another requires you to risk losing your life over the carelessness of others and the irresponsible mismanagement of others still.

The Ministers of Works, Transport and National Security all have questions to answer over their incompetence here, and the Commissioner of Police and the head of the Traffic Department do as well. Going forward from here MUST require change that begins with the deployment of contractors to divide the highways immediately, and the creation of a very committed highways division in our police service responsible for and committed to enforcing the law. The responses from both Jack Warner and Devant Maharaj leaves a lot to be desired from a leadership position, and it is time we the people start asking more from the people we elect to office, at the very least ask for what we deserve.

Where the rubber meets the road on this and the other issues that continue to plague this nation comes down to management, and it is either as a direct cause of a breakdown in the calibre of the people we hire, or it is deliberately done to for some other sinister purpose. Many speculate that imported items used for these projects come with built in kick backs and profit potential simply because they are channelled through a single source as opposed to multiple suppliers, making what is an evil that is preying on the people into a marked and profitable enterprise. I hope that they are wrong, but the barriers being put forth over the New Jersey dividers do not stand up to scrutiny much less collisions and the results can be seen littering the highways in pieces.

In his collection of articles written during the American Revolutionary War, Thomas Paine is noted to have said - “ Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.”

As in everything else of this nature, the simple things are usually the best to work and the people need to insist that they are at least tried before we go the exorbitant and expensive route. Protecting and serving the people is every public official's job and, if they find themselves in a position outside of their abilities we the people can have only ourselves to blame if that situation continues.