... Nish wants rumble strips to curb road carnage in parish

Western Bureau:

While basking in the major reduction in serious crimes in Hanover last year, the parish’s police commander, Superintendent Andrew Nish, is now eyeing a reduction in carnage on the roads and wants to see rumble strips installed in Orange Bay, Green Island and Negril.

“I fully support having rumble strips along the roadways in Orange Bay, Green Island and Negril,” said Nish while making his monthly report at Thursday’s monthly meeting of the Hanover Municipal Corporation (HMC). “The Point main road and the Orange Bay main road are the two accidents hot spots within the parish.”

In 2025, we had 18 collisions with 23 fatalities. It is worrying and we vow to robustly tackle this aspect of policing in 2026,” added Nish.

Rumble strips are slightly elevated patches that are placed across the driving surface of the roads to create a bump when motorists drive over them. Its primary purpose is to force motorists to reduce their speed, while sparking awareness and attentiveness.

The idea of installing rumble strips in Hanover is not new as, in 2023, plans were afoot for strips to be laid as part of the parish project for Labour Day that year. It was announced as a joint project by the HMC and the Social Development Commission (SDC).

At Thursday’s meeting, Lucea Mayor Sheridan Samuels; and Heatha Miller-Bennett, the member of parliament for Western Hanover, who attended the meeting, also support the need for additional safety measures to reduce the carnage on the parish’s roads.

APPEAL TO NWA

In 2020, Superintendent Oniel Henry, the officer in charge of the Hanover division of the Jamaica Fire Brigade (JFB), made an urgent appeal to the National Works Agency (NWA) to install the rumble strips on the Point main road, just outside of the Grand Palladium Hotel, which was repeatedly being described as a “black spot” because of the number of accidents.

At Thursday’s meeting, Samuels renewed the urgent installation of the strips along the Point main road, saying the current situation warrants urgent installation.

“We are expecting (construction in) phase 2 of that hotel to start, traffic volume and heavy equipment movement will significantly increase in this section of the roadway, which is already regarded as high risk for accidents,” said Samuels. “Rumble strips would serve as an early warning system for motorists, which would cause them to reduce speed and heighten their alertness.”

“The implementing of the measure would both cost effective and lifesaving and would go a long way in protecting all users of that roadway,” added Samuels.

In giving verbal support to the idea, Miller-Bennett said that having the rumble strips along the roadways would be an excellent way to reduce the road carnage and save lives.

“One life lost on the roadways is one too many,” she said in throwing her support behind the idea.

Bryan Miller