Traffic, roads and speed-bumps
Well, life has been a bit busier recently, but that’s not what I’m going to write about today (well, not much at any rate).
Infrastructure is big on the agenda at the moment- and it really needs to be. First of all, power- I know I’ve griped about this before, but it remains an issue. What is brilliant is actually having light in my bathroom (but only on the generator because usually the NPA current as we now get it is too weak to turn on a fluorescent strip light). The generator at work seems to be having issues as well, so no air con on in the office, which makes it really uncomfortable to work in as we don’t have fans to keep the air moving, so it’s somewhat stifling.
The roads- these are getting continually busier and there’s probably several reasons for this- firstly, the roads and many cars remain in a bad state of repair- most of the repairs done to our (few) tarmac roads involve filling in the holes with stones and earth- a good temporary solution, but not good over the longer term. One of the major arteries from the West to the centre of the city- Spur Road- has 5 sets of double speed bumps, 4 single speed bumps and 1 dip (helps drainage across the road in the rainy seasons); now this certainly helps slow the traffic down, it also seems to have managed to cripple 3 vehicles in 3 weeks, one of which was left half way over one of the double sets of speed bumps for about 4 days. All of them had broken an axle and (as far as can be said for cars), looked extremely ‘uncomfortable’. Spur Road is busy enough daily anyway, particularly since the VP and President are currently not living at their official residences- I’ve heard it’s due to the redecoration that’s being undertaken- this means they drive in convey with a police escort up this hill/road every morning. Now most people can understand that the VP or President, as representatives of the people of SL, should have priority over the traffic, however, there’s a great deal of annoyance over the taxi drivers and other cars that ‘join’ the convoy in order to jump up the and past most of the other traffic- I’ve seen it lead to several near misses and given that the health system isn’t wonderful and you need to send money for fuel for the ambulance before an ambulance can come to pick you up, it’s best to avoid travelling up Spur Road when a cavalcade is likely to sweep past.
Right, second reason is that a lot of people have come back after the elections- now everything’s happened quietly and calmly and there’s been a transfer of power, those who were able to afford to leave the country over the election period are now back and driving again. Related to this is the third point, that now there has been a successful election with no real problems, people are slightly happier about investing in new vehicles, or bringing more/newer vehicles into the country, so there’s more cars about that be can and therefore are, being driven.
On a slightly lighter, but still traffic related note, the taxis…., well there’s a lot I could and won’t say about the taxi’s (and their drivers) here, although at only 800 leones (40cents, 18pence) per journey it’s a fairly cheap way of getting around. Normally, unlike in
Labels: power, roads, taxis, traffic
posted by Nenya @ 3:48 pm
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