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Jungle night = Racing on Norman Manley Blvd. Unfortunately a young man perished across the street from Treehouse about 3:30AM. So sad they were racing up and down, I pray for their families, the second person on the bike is at the hospital and does not look good. The medians seem like a new obstacle to race thru. #nomorebikeaccidents
Its a tale told to often, and even themes for movies such as American Graffitti... youth, hormones, young men showing off for young women and way too much horsepower. We have lost a few young friends from similar behaviour, our thoughts and prayers go out to both families of this sad event...
My wife and I call those things "bike killers". There just isn't enough room on the road for a bike, and a car, at the same time, but the cars will try anyway. They've poured them all over Madison, supposedly to slow down traffic.
Caught,
Norman Manley Blvd is made up of two single lanes, running in opposite directions. The medians are in a no passing zone. A motor cycle (in this case) and a car should be riding in single file, there is more than enough room for that. In a single lane, in a non-passing area, a motorcycle and car should not be riding side by side in the first place.
If you are referring to a bicycle, the new sidewalk/bike path is being designed specifically for their use, to allow pedestrians and bicycle riders a separate area to move about.
The key words here are "should" be riding in a single lane. Too often I have been driving and have had bikes pass me on both sides as they wanted to go faster than the speed limit.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rob
Until the bikers are ticketed for speeding, passing in a no passing zone and reckless driving it will continue to happen, which is so sad as too many of them end up dead or maimed for life.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Caught
Interesting....Quote:
Originally Posted by likkle red
Until the bikers are ticketed for speeding, passing in a no passing zone and reckless driving it will continue to happen, which is so sad as too many of them end up dead or maimed for life.[/QUOTE]
So true Likkle Red
Its a "attitude" of the drivers, same as all over....young people like speed..its fun to brag how long to get from point a to b...its time for the penalty to those drivers to be leveled and increased.....even in the 80's....... at night we would hear a "bike" coming like a "bat"...then a moment later.......... a crash
then the next day the road will be all a buzz with the news.....seems like driving in any so called third world country, it is laced with speed, and risk taking.........
same 'ole---same 'ole
"Interesting.... " as posted by Rob
Now having bikers pass on both sides happened before the concreted divder was put in. Often times when you have 2 bikes behind you they will pass on the shoulder as well as in the middle. I hope that the mediums will help to stop some of this swinging in and out of traffic that you see so often.
Oh, it's not just the bikers that do that (swinging in and out of oncoming traffic to pass)... we used a very highly respected driver who is a vendor on the board for our last visit, and he was all over the place, barely making it back into his lane just to pass one car and not go any faster, over and over...breaking traffic laws left and right... all while on his two different cell phones.
I get that he had other jobs that day (he actually overbooked and from listening to his phone conversations had scheduled another pick up at the airport an hour after ours which is IMPOSSIBLE to do, considering he had to drive us to Negril and then go back to pick up his fares... I bet they waited two hours or more for him.), but his being in a hurry shouldn't have put our lives at risk, if even just a little.
Now that I think about it, we were there for 10 nights, and stayed at 3 different properties and pre-arranged for him to pick us up and drop us off at all of them. Except for the initial pick up and final drop off, he sent someone else in his place, which I was not expecting and didn't appreciate. I thought we hired him, and not him and his friends. The least he could have done is let us know.
Reckless, unsafe driving just seems to be the culture in JA. They just don't have enough police to enforce the laws consistently.
HarryS: It's a familiar observation. I don't know of anyone who hasn't had a scarey ride at one time or another in Jamaica.
15 years ago during my first trip as a program director for our radio station's morning show's week-long broadcasts from Mariner's Inn on the cliffs with several contest winner couples; our morning man and his 'operator' caught a ride at night to the airport with a red plate driver in a tiny old Toyota hatchback.
They were frightened out of their wits.
Luckily; I was staying down the road at Samsara and had a daytime ride with a JUTA driver in a big coaster bus during daylight hours and felt very safe. (we were traveling on different flights).
But they were terrorized in that little car with a driver who passed everything in sight; weaving in and out during a pitch black ride on the old road at break-neck speeds, and talk about it to this day.
Neither have returned to Jamaica since. I've had a couple of hairy route cab rides over the years as well. and while the other passengers may take it in stride; it can be very frightening.
I'm certainly not asking you to "name" the driver involved in your transport; but maybe we can get people to speak up about drivers who do put safety above profit at all times!
HarryS I wouldn't want that driver. Wouldn't of used him for the remainder of the trip and told him why. And being a sponsor here is no guarantee for a safe driver apparently.
I don't get it. Why can't you say the name of the driver? If this board is supposed to be informational, shouldn't it be for the good AND the bad information? I have read peoples no-positive thoughts about resorts and restaurants, why not drivers?
I certainly wouldn't want to hire anyone like that!
Angel and Big Shiny and all,
Harry has chosen on his own, as is his right, not to name the driver. As Harry mentioned, the driver is highly recommended by many here on Negril.com.
But rest assured, as soon as I read his comments, HarryS and I have been in contact and we are addressing the issue to try and prevent this from happening again. Negril.com does not want any unsafe drivers to be listed in our Transportation section. That is in no one's best interest.
Angel, with humans being humans, there can never be perfect 100% guarantees whenever humans are involved. Humans are fallible creatures and no one is perfect.
But problems can be addressed and minimized, which is what Harry and I are striving to attain.
Thank you for your understanding in this matter.
And a personal message to Big Shiny, I have had the pleasure of calling Gary Gygax many times over several decades - from the early 70's when he had just created that new type of game called "Dungeons and Dragons" and we were trying to figure out what to do when his game manuals didnt supply the answers. He came out with several supplemental manuals based on the problems we ran into while playing D&D, so apparently his "rule books" did help in this case... (grin)
I spoke with him last in 2005, just a few years before he passed on. Cheers Gary, and thanks for all the fun over the years!
When I started helping Linston establish his "redplate" business the first thing I demanded was safe driving.
Also customer service requires a conscious effort to understand the mind set of the client and their comfort.
As a sponsor here and being well known to most regulars personally it is imperative to represent ourselves and Negril.com in the most positive light.
We are blessed in that we have other business in JA outside the tourist industry so Linston doesn't have to overbook or drive like a mad man to get as many trips as possible.
Most (but apparently not all) drivers here on Negril.com are safe and dependable.
Never confuse the "route cab" driver with a charter. Both are red plate but far different in their operations. There's a thread somewhere here about the difference
Regards
Cap
" They just don't have enough police to enforce the laws consistently. "...........or its not a high priority ??
Hey Rob,
Thanks for the info on that. I totally understand. I'm a bit green on here and still learning the "ins and outs" so I hope my question didn't offend anyone. :)
Now.....I don't want to blabber off topic on here BUT.... I knew you must be pretty cool to do what you do on here but, now I come to find out you are cool.......and a geek? ;) Awesome!
I hope you guys are around next week because now we will make a point to get to one of your usual boardie haunts. I would LOVE to hear some stories of your early years of "play-testing".
Help is on the way ! :cool:
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/regio...-west_15408117
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/regio...#ixzz2kDAL65Uv
"Hare is, however, confident the death toll will be below 300". -
300???
Really????
What a goal!!
Way to raise the bar!
This guy is a clown & so is anyone else that thinks 300 is an acceptable "goal".
Waaaaaay the hell off topic.
Rob knew Gary Gygax. That man shaped a lot of my childhood, and for good or ill depending on ones perspective, my success in life through some contacts made because of his products.
Rob is up a few levels in my book, and gets +1 Internet for that statement alone....
Irie John,Quote:
Originally Posted by Irie John
Last year, with the road fatalities at 260 made Jamaica a safer place to drive than the USA. Here is a quote from the PulitzerCenter.org:
"In 1991 the rate of road deaths was 18.5 per 100,000, but in 2012 the fatality ratio fell to just 9.5, according to the Statistical Institute of Jamaica. That is below the U.S. rate, and approaching Cuban and Canadian levels. In absolute terms, last year’s 260 fatalities were the lowest on record."
http://pulitzercenter.org/reporting/...cautions-death
Of course everyone in the world would want a perfect safety record of zero road fatalities, but this the real world we all live in.
So the goal of keeping the road fatalities under 300 is admirable goal, not something to be made into a joke. Having a safety record better than the USA is something Jamaica should always strive to attain. Kenute Hare is certainly not the clown...
if you want a scare of your life..then take a cab ride to sav....
Don't yap yap too much to the drivers ... they are REALLY concentrating. They will let you know when it's time to have a conversation. Also, if you're yapping, they may go faster to get you too their destination depending on the conversation lool.
I was sitting on the friary verandah and the bikes were racing up and down Beach Road--a blur as they shot past the church yard. They had to be going 175 to 200 kph--and the noise was unreal. I expected to hear the next morning that someone died and wasn't wrong. The good news, in that there is good news in tragic death, is that some innocent pedestrian or persons in a car were not the victims. It's not the road or the medians, it's the incredible irresponsibility of young people who think they are invincible. In my 17 years in high school teaching and administration I attended way too many funerals of young people driving irresponsibly. As for the adults who are reckless beyond belief, charity prevents any further comment. --Fadder Jim
It's hard to legislate away stupidity
OK this may be a dumb question but....... if they were racing up and down in the middle of town making lots of noise where were the police????
Mo,
It was 3:30am in the morning... the night patrols are around but limited and keeping an eye on the neighborhoods. And in all honesty, and at that time of the of the morning, traffic violations are realistically not their highest priority.
Didn't realize it was the middle of the night. Fr. Jim said he was sitting on the verandah so I assumed it was day or evening.
I heard the people involved were from Hanover.
Hanover is a very large parish and the northern part of Negril is in Hanover....
People on this tread keep calling this an accident.
Definition of an accident; An accident, mishap, or, more archaically, misadventure, is an unforeseen and unplanned event or circumstance, often with lack of intention or necessity.
This was no accident. Police services across North America have stop referring to these as accidents. They are called collisions now. Based on the definition above, when a person gets on a motorcycle and chooses to drive like a maniac, this is no accident and we should stop referring it as such.
As for the police, what are they going to do. Police show up and the motorcyclists just run away. Maybe taking out some incident bystander while running. The police having nothing that will catch these guys and even trying would give the rider nothing more that an even bigger rush.
Motorcyclists will do things like this for kicks a notoriety. The true villains here are the ones on the side of the road cheering this kind of behavior on. Take away the audience and take away the behavior.
When I was sitting on the verandah and the bikers were racing up and down beach road it was about 10:00 p.m. Heck, at my age I can't stay up until 3:30 a.m. Fadder Jim
@ Fadda Jim. I didn't want to say that. I thought you were burning the candle at both ends.
This is very sad news, but not unexpected. It's apparent to me that drivers are more safety conscious in Jamaica than they were ten years ago ... Drivers used to be even crazier ... I remember driving along on a 2-lane road when a driver behind me decided to pass me, and at the same time, the car behind him to decided to pass. I had 2 cars passing me at the same time, on a 2-lane road. Fortunately there wasn't a car coming from the opposite direction.