Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has said road etiquette in Dominica must be improved to meet international standards.
He was addressing the third in a series of post budget town hall meeting in Trafalgar on Tuesday evening and was defending a recently-announced Road Maintenance Levy.
“We have to improve the road etiquette in this country,” He said. “Tourism is now a key plank of our economic existence and we have to recognize that the old way of doing things is no longer acceptable. There are certain international standards and practices we simply have to embrace and adopt in this country of ours.”
Skerrit lamented many “simple things” that are occurring on Dominica’s roads such as stopping and chatting, parking around blind corners, travelling at excessive speeds especially in areas frequented by visiting drivers, leaving children and pets unattended in vehicles, not wearing seat belts when driving or as a passenger, playing music so loudly that the approach of another vehicle is not heard, far less the sirens of the ambulance or police or fire.
“There is also the issue of throwing litter from vehicles, driving through rain and splashing pedestrians, and operating vehicles without well-functioning lights whether at the back or the front of the vehicle,” he stated.
The Prime Minister said such practices must be eradicated.
“There are certain common practices that need to be stamped out in this country and we will be using part of the proceeds of that fund (from the levy) to impress upon motorists the need for greater maturity and responsibility in the use of our highways,” he said.
He revealed that a portion of the funds will also go towards public education.
“I am hopeful that such sacrifice would foster greater appreciation for the work of those charged with maintaining our road surfaces…and I wish to stress your roads, they are not the government’s roads, and certainly they are not the Prime Minister’s roads. They are your roads,” Skerrit said.
The new rates (in addition to what is being paid) will become effective in September 2015 are as follows:
-Commercial vehicles: $150 per year
-Trucks and dumpers: $150 per year
-Private vehicles: $100 per year
-Motorcycles: 50 per yea
on quiet a few occasions I was forced to take evasive action when a motorcade of about four black heavily tinted SUV’s with the coat of arms plates on the borne road and the antrim road. THAT DID NOT SEEM LIKE ETIQUETTE TO ME… I THOUGHT THEY WERE ON A RACE TRACK
If Skeritt was Friendly to Dominican Business He would tell us which Toilet Paper brand to use but the owner of the local factory is leaning to the other party so He will refrain from that Nuff said!
Hello and good afternoon my people. We must be honest and acknowledged that those additional fees are small. Now why can’t the Police enforced the laws in regards to Speeding, No Seat Belts, No helmets, Obstructing Traffic and Pedestrians and Disodeying Stop Signs.
After visiting Dominica recently, I’ve seen that the people do not stick to the side of the road that they are driving on. Everyone seem to be in such rush. Why is there a divider in the road? when no one complies to it. They always want to overtake the driver in front of them. No one stays in their lane.
What we need in Dominica is the following and in that order:
1. Run an advertising campaign for 2 weeks to remind all drivers of the existing road traffic laws, licensing requirements and vehicle standards (state of repair of the vehicle, tire condition etc.)
2. After that, get these lazy police officers on the road and enforce the above rigorously including fines, taking unsafe, untaxed and not insured vehicles of the road.
Not only will this action ‘educate’ drivers very swiftly but it would also bring some much needed revenue to the state coffers.
On 2 seperate occasions I was bullied off the road, when your two black vehicles over took my vehicle, one of these times were on the winding road of Roger or upper Canefield, AROUND a corner and you are talking about manners? When you point 1 fingers 4 more are pointing to YOU. I was so traumatized
You should see the type of manouvers they Police do when escorting Skeritt it is just so ridiculous and dangerous if You ask me .They behaving as if they driving through Baghdad .Nonsense!\
PM you want more revenue, fine these crazy drivers rather than punish people for food consumption and import tax.
You ruling your house? Nothing is implemented by the Government of Dominica; Only by and through skereet. Signs of absolute power. Didn’t know that the people still wanted him again, after all the faults they discovered in him.
to all the bus drivers at home. terrible, terrible, terrible, road manners. They have no road etiquet and very little respect for their passangers. Loud music, speeding, loud talking, stopping anywhere. It is rediculous. It is getting overbearing. I hope they begin to understand that customers always come first in their practice.
I am equally concerned as the P M because too many vehicles are occupying the road; this habit must stop, sometimes vehicles are parked so close to bends and exposes the passing vehicle on the wrong side of the road, we need a law to cleaR ALL PUBLIC ROADS. Like wise bus stops they are to be built away from the main road and a side road must lead to the bus stop so that there is safety for all concerned.
the entrance to the city via the chinese bridge cannot depend only on a bottleneck street and that to creates a traffic hazard coupled with the K F C building, bad location allowed by this government, time to correct that.
When angelo alleyne told us that skerro took two loans from china valued over one billion dollars the chinese embassy came out and cleared that, and said the government of china had nothing to do with that; because skero was saying the loan was from the govt of China, we never questioned and just drank it sweet, now we have that loan to pay, if west coast road is grant, Stadium is grant, airport road to Roseau is grant, the only loan that we were informed of was the loan for the state palace which was 27 million; what were these loans for?from whom did he take them, then where & what was the money spent for? now we have to pay tax to service the loan.
Mr. Prime Minister have you ever heard your fellow Dominicans say ” So we accustom of doing our thing”? Sir you cannot change our peoples’ behavior by preaching to them. We have nasty attitudes that can only be wiped out by making them expensive to maintain. Firstly we must increase the number of officers assigned to the traffic division 100 %. We MUST double the amount of vehicles used in patrolling our streets and neighbourhoods. We need to see clearly marked police patrol vehicles on patrol at all hours. Remember we must not forget the unmarked vehicles either. All such vehicles must be equipped with modern equipment. (Tools of the trade). Now let the police officers do their jobs without political interference and give the TICKET BOOKS a chance to do the preaching from sunrise to sunrise and I can guaranty you there will be a major change in our attitude on the roads. The traffic violations court will do amazing business and the treasury will smile from ear to ear.
You have been living in the USA for too long Jack!None of Your suggestions will work here and besides Skeritt will not even supply the Police with some basic needs
building a bank without a secured vault is stupid. Building new roads and not having proper signage as well as traffic lights is equally stupid.
Mind your manners, We are creatures of bad habbits and do not follow the golden rule,ie, Do unto others as you would like do unto You”. Ironically! there are those who live in the Diaspora obey the laws of that country, willingly! but as soon as those same culprits set food in Dominica, all hell break loose back to their old ways, compounding an already existing problem wit some on Island. It should however, manners makef man and woman, and our good manners should be on display all the time. But! in the real world it only takes one “JAck” to screw things up. Having said that i hope the Authority{S} in charge of providing proper signage, and directional and we must up our standared and adhere to international Standaredss it relates to the use of our Roads, that and more will go along was in improving our quality of life issues. We go see!!!!!
What about a driving license it helps .
Hmmm so no liscense needed to drive in da? Is that what u are saying? Or people just driving without liscense?
I get splash in America especially in the spring when the snow is melting.This is everywhere not only in DA It just has to do with mere courtesy
NO my friend if this splash happens in England you would get a fine.
they better mark the roads, make sure PROPER MARKINGS ARE ON THE ROADS like white lines etc lanes etc
wat I hearing na? man paying their licence and still have to pay $150? for what?
You are not hearing!…your reading!!
waist of Dominican tax money is this a high way waist of timewhere are the tree lanes road
Waste Sonia, “waste”! Waist is the around your middle, your girth!
ME, but wait, basically you calling Sonia the measurement of her middle…lol lolol
Your waist made of money? Girl, best you go to the doctor fast eh…you might have affluenza
TF is a tree lane road?
Thanks PM speak to your children, put the budget documents away. Tell them how to drive, how to eat properly how to speak properly, how to treat our tourist. In the meantime you can slip in the increases they will not notice they will be loving the love shared to them.
Skerrit I find those days all you saying is I want ,I want , so now election is over you asking us for ? What about the giving you promised . I not hearing and seeing the giving as mush as you asking . Hey and not just giving to the reds it about giving to all citizen of the Commonwealth of Dominica. Really we do need road etiquette. AT the same time stop trying to divert the issues and promises that were made during the campaign.
My Children still waiting for Tablet!One graduate already .The others are starting to believe me when I say that these so called Honourable Men are not telling the truth
Is the human fowls that’s walking in the middle of the road thinking they are invisible or they will just fly when a vehicle hit them or what they see in hospital on TV PMH have it to save their lives. Especially the school children leaving school at one.
Some of the scariest moments (-hours) I had in my life= be on a bus in Dominica! No seat belt, no head rest, speeding drivers, taking over just before corners,… + litter beside the road/ all over “The Nature Island”… I was praying not to end up in a dominican hospital- another story…
Headline News
“Dominicans wants better political and parliamentary etiquette in parliament and in government.”
Satan cannot talk of or forgive sins. Clean your House Skerrit and do not lecture us. Set the example.
You are a great disappointment.
No law no Constitution can stop me from lecturing You ,These People are too free! Madame Speaker I tell You they are too free!
Hate to say it, but the most likely way to get citizens to change their driving behavior is with monetary fines based on a specific violation.
As a people we have to be told what to eat , how to think, what do we know how to do in 20913. Slavery should be brought back to keep us in check. All over the world we have to be controlled by some one with a whip over our heads for us to be discipline . How long its going to take before we jet it. Grown men and Women the prime Minister have to lecture you by telling you not to throw garbage in the streets. Do you think slavery has done a number on us and there is no cure. We does not even have the ability to put a simple thing like water in a bottle to sell.
Thank God for that P.M this a positive move in the right direction drivers in D.A use the roads as their living rooms to stop and converse as if they alone on the road .when you try to educate them they curse the living he’ll out of you and sometimes want to even get out with intention to hurt and intimidate .
Hope more policing on our roads also will do the trick
You would think the Commisioner of Police would have some latitude to be the one to give that lecture
Mr Skerit just not words we need to see actions,Theres a junction road it’s a three way direction right beside Roseau Dominica Bank in Canefield its a one way road there use to be a stop sign there its over three years this sign has damaged and disappeared and has not replace, Dominica is very poor on maintenance, traffic flows this road frequently all three directions, This indicate our government doesn’t care when come to our safety, It’s shameful to me it doesn’t take much to replace a stop.
Skeritt likes to divert the blame to the Citizens .As You said that stop sign at the base of Roger road where it runs into the Edward Oliver Leblanc Highway has been Missing in action for God knows how long !So Mr. Skeritt why do you not fix it and get back to us
It’s great that the PM is finally going to do something about all those ignorant drivers. However I would prefer issuing of tickets to the offending drivers. i don’t see why everyone has to pay for the faults of others. Give them a ticket once they will not do it twice. This is just another tax on people’s head, an income generator, nothing to do with concern for driving. They have to pay the money whether or not they offend, so when you well pay your money to travel on the road at the beginning of the year, what does this have to do with your behaviour on the road if you are not going to get further fined? Good luck with the ‘education’. I am sure we all know we should not be doing those things already.
Skerrit what about etiquette in the House of PARLIAMENT, etiquette in the workplace especially in the government establishments, what I saw during the presentation of the budget a few weeks ago with you and your ministers and the speaker of the house, you guys afd lacking etiquette big time, skerrit charity begins at home, clean your house before you ask others to do so. You for sure need a course in etiquette, respect, team player, communication , work ethic etc, not forgetting Austrie, each time he speaks all he does is utter verbal diarrhea which is seen all over the globe,
Well maybe if skerrit didn’t have his picture in the biggest witch craft man house in Haiti he wouldn’t have to sell people to look like accident Dominica no longer belongs to dominica
I keep saying Skerrit is either mad, or the man is a fool: “etiquette;” the word was first coined in 1750 and defined as “the conduct or procedure required by good breeding, or prescribed by authority to be observed in social or official life.”
What does that have to do with international driving laws, or procedures; if we have driving laws, and rules in Dominica, I suppose intelligent people should follow the rules; however when they fail to adhere by the rules, and are caught the consequences they should suffer should be a fine , or fine, and have their license suspended for a period of time.
I believe Skerrit is deliberate with the nonsense he speaks; simply to get some sort of attention; that is not necessary because your backwardness, and the backward way in which you are leading Dominica is a constant reminder of how stupid you are! Anytime you think about international, think about the International Airport you deprive Dominica.
The new rates (in addition to what is being paid) will become effective in September 2015 are as follows:
-Commercial vehicles: $150 per year
-Trucks and dumpers: $150 per year
-Private vehicles: $100 per year
-Motorcycles: 50 per yea
If Skerrit’s argument revolves around the few pennies above, paying such fees has nothing to do with etiquette; internationally citizens know that their taxes keep their country running, in Dominica people believe that some foreign country will always give them something for free; that is our problem, and Skerrit is the cause of that. Never in the history of our country we had any leader who went around crawling on their belly begging for money to run the country.
I was wondering where the etiquette coming in there for real! Wrong choice of words.. U are sooooo right!
It’s time to address these issues. Start with public service campaigns, coupled with appropriate street signs and traffic enforcement by police officers. Dominican drivers will not simply change their bad habits because someone said so.
Outside of the Roseau area, you can’t find one police officer on patrol. All vehicles should be inspected by a trained mechanic before they are deemed road worthy. Vehicles that do not meet licensing requirements, should fail inspections until the violations are repaired.
Enact a point system which in turn will raise insurance premiums for those drivers who do not obey the law. Add electronic speed counters to areas such as the Canefield Cliff, and West Coast highways.
This appears to be another attempt by the prime minister to change the topic of conversation from his disastrous victimization of Gordon Henderson which has been the focus of public opinion over the past week.
First he talked about wanting unity for the next four years despite his divisive policies and then he pivoted to praising the new US/Cuba relations which have no relevance to Dominica.
It seems to me that Mr. Skerrit vastly underestimates the intelligence of the Dominican people with his silly little mind games .Skerrit’s monumentally absurd and obnoxious decision to victimize Gordon Henderson in retaliation for his dissenting views could well turn out to be his Waterloo, hence his frantic efforts to change the conversation to anything but Henderson. But the public will not buy this.
Dominicans need respect from their leaders and Mr. Skerrit is falling woefully short.
Keep on what you are doing, Skerro. You will reap the rewards some day.
road etiquette in Dominica must be improved to meet international standards
GarCon u pass me de other day with your three big Suvs i had a baby on board where was your etiquette.
Skerrit your the biggest law breaker of all the mentioned about,to meet international standards,law breakers needs to be fined,and starting with you.
In addition to road etiquette there should be better signage. Stop and No Entry signs should be prominently displayed as well as street names and house numbers. Still, directional and informational signs should be legible and large enough to help guide drivers.
What a load of Croc. There is something called enforcing the laws of the land. Who can’t hear must feel and that would teach persons who violate the road and environmental laws a lesson. Why are we so scared of enforcing laws in this country. This brings in revenue to the treasury and it surely teaches people a hard lesson.
I agree with him but his convoy should observe road manners too. Equally important is to install proper road signage. How does a stranger to Roseau, for instance know, what is a one way street and which one is not. Thirdly, we need professional, certified driving instructors and a written exam on the highway code. Thank you. We can all do better.
Well said Titiwi good points 10 out of 10.
Public education yes, but what about driver education to meet international standards. We are still using a system that is perhaps over 50 years to issue drivers licenses. What about a written exam, sight testing and a wait time of at least 6 months before a learner can apply to be tested to obtain a drivers license.
You know I am tired with this guy named Roosevelt Skerrit. Can somebody tell this guy that he as to lead by example? I can’t wait for this guy to leave office. I am sick and tired of being sick and tired of this guy or hearing his name , his proclamations and decrees.
What was the cause of your first and last accident?
Lower the vehicle licence by half from September and call off the highway tax. You of all people should know that in Dominica–things go better with coax!
It’s only now that you want to come and talk about etiquette? “no law including the …” “go to HELL”… “Dominicans TOO FREE”…came from your mouth and you never apologised or set the matter straight…not even Labourites taking you serious again…ou fini bat.
The Government of Dominica need to put in place quickly some heavy penalty laws some drivers are very ignorant on the roads also safety belt must be used at all times mobile phones heavy fine bus drivers on the road talking to their girlfriend about the sex last night and speeding not good.
U got to be kidding me. That is what they talking about? Wow.
Good job PM tax their ….sss. Vat, road, sugar and salt tax on top of vat, may I also suggest taxes on stray dogs and those who still have pit latrines.
If some of those police officers spent more time on enforcement of traffic laws and learning to make statement and present evidence in court 90% of what u mentioned would not be a problem, instead of them bringing information to you on who support u and who doesn’t.
I agree. It has been a while since I have been lamenting on these same issues so I’m happy that finally someone has officially brought it up because Dominicans do need to work on these issues. It’s appalling what some drivers do without regard to other drivers or pedestrians.
Courtesy, courtesy, courtesy … learn it and practice it. This includes the regular use of your indicator lights, not stopping over the crest of hills, not stopping in the middle of the road to chat-up someone and letting faster moving vehicle pass you after you pull over to the side of the road. Driving full speed through water and dirtying-up people walking on the side of the road is just plain ignorant and mean spirited.
Public education???? It is time to be proactive Mr. PM. The Gov. should start a simple informative campaign for about 4 to 6 weeks. Using the different medias from radio, internet, TV, handing out simple pamphlets etc. When that period is passed it is time to start to give out tickets by increasing the officers on the road. The people will learn and if they don’t want to then they will contribute further to the paying off the debt which the country is in. Thanks
PM give this advice to the police officers who drive you around. They are the ones who speed, and show no courtesy. They would come out of nowhere and yell at drivers to stop and go to facilitate you. I have been stopped in traffic by your escort team because you allow crowds to gather around you at road sides or whilstt you cross the street. Give me a break.
Are you a saddest or what. The PM is a public figure so when his in public you most expect that..ok Saddest
Dimples should talk to his “drivers”. Many times have been forced over for those bozos. Terrible drivers. Very rude.
The protocol employed by his drivers merely would prevent YOU from overtaking their vehicles when driving in a convoy. You either attempted to overtake them or are a Liar.