BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force’s Traffic Department has registered its dissatisfaction with the behaviour of some motorists during the carnival season.
Prior to the hosting of the season’s street activities, the Traffic Department issued a communiqué highlighting a number of restrictions designed to facilitate a smooth flow of the bands and revellers through the streets of Basseterre. The restrictions were imposed specifically for the J’Ouvert celebration, the Grand Parade, Kiddies Carnival and the Last Lap jam.
In an exclusive interview with SKNVibes, Head of the Traffic Department, Inspector Cromwell Henry explained that “generally…the Traffic Department is very pleased that there were no major accidents which resulted in injuries to either drivers or passengers.” “However”, he added, “we must say that we are not totally happy with driver-behaviour during the carnival parades.”
In explanation of the some of the Department’s grievances, the Inspector said, “There were several vehicles parked along the Carnival route which resulted in the bands in some areas being obstructed. And revellers had to lift vehicles from the road and bump them on the sidewalk to allow the bands to pass. There were vehicles parked on both sides of Church Street on Carnival Day despite our appeals to motorists not to park on the route.”
This violation of the regulations, Henry said, forced bands to deviate somewhat from the prescribed route.
“In the area of College Street, some of the bands had to divert onto Liverpool Row because they were not able to turn right onto College Street because of parked vehicles there. We really want to express our dissatisfaction with these particular incidents.
Another of the Traffic Department’s grievances is motorists’ disregard for and disobedience of traffic signs.
“Motorists were also driving through the crowds onto the route again, despite our appeals not to do that. There were signs placed indicating no entry onto the route and some motorists actually moved the signs and drove through, resulting in other motorists following or others not seeing the sign because they were moved.”
Persons, who were found to be in violation of the traffic laws, were issued traffic tickets, as explained by Henry, adding that more than 20 tickets were issued on New Year’s Day.
His reminder to motorists is “that signs are placed to indicate restrictions, and restrictions are imposed for safety purposes. When they are disobeyed, this puts everyone at risk. We continue our appeal to drivers to respect traffic signs; be on the lookout for traffic signs and always comply with them.”
