THERE WERE MIXED reactions from Barbadians about the recently erected traffic lights at the corner of Swan Street and Lucas Street in The City, and it may take some time before the driving and walking public get used to them.
A team from the MIDWEEK NATION visited the area around midday yesterday and observed a number of pedestrians walking across the road while the lights were on green, and some motorists drove through while they were on red.
Lee-Ann Knight said erecting stoplights in the heart of a busy cross road was “ridiculous”.
“People are accustomed to walking straight across the road and people driving would consciously slow down, [but] some people continue to just walk straight across. Some are conscious of the stoplights and there are others who just don’t care.
“I didn’t even know the lights were there until I came to town this morning,” she said.
Steven “Di Genius” Williams described the new move as “a bunch of madness”.
“How could they put a stoplight in the middle of a town that is always busy? It is madness. People are not acknowledging it. People accustomed to just crossing the roads when the vehicles stop,” he said.
However, Mary-Ann Kinch said it was a “good idea”, but acknowledged that she was not aware of it before yesterday.
“We always have difficulties crossing here, especially where the drivers are concerned. I hate to see people trying to cross the roads in between traffic driving. I think they would definitely need to advertise it and the pedestrians need to observe it. It is a good idea,” she said.
One man, who would only give his name as Bobby “Street Approved”, said he believed Barbadians would get used to the new stoplights, but it would definitely take some time.
“They did not advertise it because we did not hear anything about a stoplight going up in The City. [Also] it is a little too high. It will take time to get accustomed to [as this] is not a highway; it is just an ordinary street,” he said.
In a telephone interview yesterday, Inspector Leon Blades of the police traffic division said the lights were erected on November 28 and became operational early December in an effort “to control the interaction between pedestrian and vehicular traffic”.
“This situation has been exacerbated because Swan Street has been turned into a pedestrian mall. So there is a heavy flow of pedestrian traffic. As such, it is necessary to control it,” he said.
Blades said pedestrian traffic was greater around this time of year; and previously a police officer would have been stationed from 6 a.m to 6 p.m.
However, he acknowledged people were not as aware of the lights as they should be.
Owing to this, Blades said the Police Force was asking the Ministry of Transport and Works to take another look at the lights to lower the Walk signal and place caution signs leading up
to the lights. (MM/CA)
