Dear DNO,
I am writing this letter in order to draw attention to the dreadful and quite frankly dangerous driving conditions that exist in the village of Mahaut.
It’s been eight months since my wife and I made the transition back to Dominica from the UK. Since our resettlement in this vibrant and lively village, all has gone well and according to plan, however, there remains a huge problem that continues to blight the lives of the villagers, namely the traffic situation…
The main stretch of road that lies between the entrance and exit of the village is to all intent and purposes a racing strip for motorists of all persuasions. It is not unusual to see cars and motorcyclists alike speeding through at speeds of up to 55mph. To date, I have already witnessed two near-fatal incidents involving young men falling off their motorcycles in the paths of oncoming vehicles. As much as I hate to say this, It is only a matter of time before the inevitable happens.
Apart from the huge volume of traffic that passes through on a daily basis, the sheer size of some of these vehicles is really not suitable for these roads and is in fact dangerous. Witnessing these huge articulated behemoths struggling to pass either side of each other on roads that can barely accommodate two regular size buses is quite amusing and never fails to attract an audience.
The results are always the same – huge traffic jams which can last from anything up to 45mins. Last week one of these lorries mounted and damaged the lower step on the staircase to my house. No doubt, I will end up paying for the repair myself.
Noise pollution remains an ongoing problem for all concerned.
In truth, I could go on, and on, and on, however, at the risk of sounding like a “Johnny come lately,” I will “hold my tongue” but please allow me to make these suggestions…
- Speed bumps would help
- Speed limit signs 20mph at either end of the village
- Ban the lager trucks from passing through during the rush hour
- Alternatively, restrict their access to between 6 pm and 6 am
- A traffic light system that only allows traffic to flow from one end then changes to allow the traffic flow from the other end.
- Noise pollution signs at either end of the village forbidding the use of EXCESSIVE blowing of car/truck horns/sound systems…
Thank you
Cameron Pierre
Disgusting behaviour and statement From this failed ……Silver Fox.
Raise your standard especially when you address an intellectual like Francisco Telemaque. Don’t go down that dirty corrupted Labour party road like Skerrit.
Stay focus on your Dominica, we need sound
mature honest responsible Dominicans uplift our Government and Dominica from this political comedians in our in government
We welcome UWP Team under the leadership of Hon. Lennox Linton and his trusted competent qualified decent United Workers Party UWP.
Good Luck. Dominica is ours to save from this rotten failed incompetent Questionable Skerrit Labour government. Get out Skerrit, you have failed us big time
Mahaut is the place to be Mahaut is blessed with happiness mahaut people look after each other mahaut is my kind of town.
Welcome to lawless Dominica!
Right? Best you go somewhere else OR move to a quieter part of Dominica and pray that the government does not build one of their housing projects near you!
Gaelish,
I noticed that you said welcome to lawless Dominica, for your information most Dominicans are law abiding citizens but there is a group of hooligans and idiotic people that is going by the name workers clowns and that comedian so-called opposition ahole leader these are the lawless Dominica you might also be one of them who knows!!
Most Dominicans are law abiding citizens apart from the PM, the ministers and the cabal. Remember what your PM said: no law and no constitution… Your PM is a gangste.
A disgraceful comment coming from the unprofessional thoughts from this idiotic commentary. Mr Silver Fox be aware of idiotic commentary, it’s not helpful and educating us on what it is you wished to say with some level of decency and aptitude.
We have in government the worse to and most corrupted government with a highly failed corrupted Labour government and its incompetent failed Skerrit.
Wake up and smell the coffee, our Dominica is in a sad state, in a mess. So you wake up and run away from failed incompetent Questionable Skerrit. He is too immature and silly to be this Prime Minister material. He’s just a fanfare and the Odd Minister called Skerrit.
Good luck. Go in peace.
Dominica need sound leadership.
We welcome Hon. Lennox Linton and his trusted professional UWP.
We had enough of this failed incompetent failed Skerrit.
We need change. Skerrit must go, he’s a failure and incompetent. Ki
Both Massacre and Mahaut need a bypass road constructed over the sea/shoreline. That is probably the only practical solution.
Excellent exposé Mr Pierre (aka Rizo) on the dangerous driving conditions, which exists in the village of Mahaut
An obvious preventative measure to add to your list is the use of CCTV to monitor the road conditions.
Use of CCTV at strategic points will allow traffic managers to see breakdowns, collisions and other causes of congestion. Combined with good communication systems with Traffic Dept, the police and major road users (such as airports, seaports, retail outlets, gardeners, ravellers, etc), this can ensure traffic managers receive advance warning of issues that will impact their network.
Any CCTV equipment installed should comply with the minimum standards required to support legal enforcement.
As long as the police is used for all kind of things apart from those that should be at the forefront of their duties, i.e. crime prevention and investigation and traffic law enforcement, nothing is going to change. The DA police force has been degraded to a private militia under the command of one corrupt and paranoid individual.
I just find it funny that not once was it mentioned that a HUGE contributor to Mahaut’s traffic is that all these houses practically 1cm from the road the entire strip.
Also the horns will not and *cannot* stop if your fellow villagers always in the way.
If a vehicle can touch your front step, you not seeing where your house be is the problem? It’s impossible to do anything significant on Mahaut road when asphalt and front porch making one.
To see you , a villager , finding a problem in the size of the truck (on the road where it should be) rather than the proximity of buildings (stick to a highway) shows Mahaut will never change like you so desperately want it to.
I agree with the writer 100%, Something definitely can be done but who is going to take the imitative? (Should be the Government). Every house between Massacre and Mahaut along the seaside should be relocated to be able to widen the roads, it will also solve the problem of the houses that are practically on the beach, then and only then I will consider driving through Mahaut. My humble opinion.
I agree with House and Road make one 100%. Before reading this I was just thinking about my last time in DCA. Driving through Mahaut or Massacre I saw one of my friends coming out of a house and I could have given her a high five. I was thinking about how easy it would be for a vehicle to just crash into her house. That thought is terrifying. Please please move the houses like they did in Layou away from the river. Someone should really look into this.
I’m in a 100% agreement with you on this one
….Mahaut really need speed bumps on the main road that is no joke . It’s really crazy in a middle of a village where the drivers drive so fast with no regards for people’s safety. The traffic department really needs to take this into consideration .
You are wasting your time talking; there is nothing you can say about speeding in Dominica that will prevent people from speeding.
You see in Dominica, driving fast is a showoff thing, they drive fast so that stupid people can say ” boy mister fast eh!”
Hahahahahahahah!
That is a traditional thing, as many die over the years, yet their commonsense cannot dictate that Dominica does not have the roads for speeding.
At an average speed, obtaining a blowout Tyre front or rear; it is almost impossible not to run of the road into some precipice and die!
By the way question: how you manage to deduce that these idiots are driving at 55 miles per hour; do you have a Radar or Laser detector monitoring the rate of speed they are traveling?
The only way you could determine the speed they are driving, is if you have such instruments named above, or you are following behind driving at 55 miles per hour!
I fully agree with that letter 100%and that Bridge next to the credit union I have spoken to Mr Blackmoore regarding that issue but having said that i do not think reptiles such as you Francisco, should not have any say in our country Dominica we have enough snakes coming from your side in the US so keep your opinion to yourself go to hell 👹 Satan is waiting to embrace you.
Why will Mr. Blackmoore care? He is not exposed to the danger since he does NOT live in Mahaut, Massacre or the other villages he represents. You will see him again to campaign for the next elections.
Passing through Mahaut every day is just a NIGHTMARE because of people parking on the side with zero care about blocking the road.
excluded or meant from entrance of mahaut to vacant lot by dcp
i would also suggest that the main project to be done if it is possible is a bypass from entrance to empty lot close to dcp as i was told there was a bypass years ago massacre , this should be looked into and at the mean time procedures suggested by c. pierre should be put in place immediately especially the speeding of bikes , cars and large vehicles passing at 6pm to 5.30 am Monday to Monday
Welcome back! its unfortunate that Mahaut and Massacre main roads are still in such a state of underdevelopment. In fact the main road hasn’t change significantly over the last 40 years, although areas in and around these two villages have grown exponentially in terms of residential and businesses. yes we did resurfacing and some drainage here and there but there hasn’t been any medium to long term plans to address the serious concerns you have expressed. We had a golden opportunity under the 300 million dollar, four pillar project to do something about these roads, instead we just resurfaced them as part of the EO Leblanc Highway. There was talk about a bypass emmmh? but it is evident that road improvement for the area is just not a priority. I say so because we have had a parl,rep in government for the last twenty years yet still the problem persist. Alternatives have also been suggested for the canefield cliffs, ahwah , so dont give up, but welcome to life in DA bro!.
Welcome back home comrade. Remember your folks at Soufriere. By
Mr. Pierre, don’t sweat it too much. Give yourself a little more time and you too shall get used to the system.
Mr. Pierre, your complaints were well articulated and your suggested solutions reasonable. However, I disagree with the speed bumps. In an event where the fire truck or the ambulance has to rush to an emergency every second counts. The speed bumps would be problematic. The laws on speeding are already on the books but enforcement is a major problem. Place traffic police in places where speeding is a hazard at the specific hours that this mostly occurs. Most of these scooters and motorcycles are a menace on the road.
Yes enforcement is key. It shouldn’t be a problem to post patrol officers in the area round the clock for that matter
The speed bump suggestion is a good idea if the law permits all emergency vehicles (police and ambulances) to cross all the speed bumps and red lights when their flashing lights and sirens are on. The only problem I see is compliance by other motorists and civilians.
Whereas you believe he is well articulated; I see plenty of flaws in his suggestions.
I don’t know how long he’s been out of Dominica, I don’t know if he grew up in Dominica; nevertheless, I say the issue of speeding is not a recent thing.
I have been a road hog in Dominica, at age 17, people like me and …………. the kid from Wesley; pilot, put a plain down in the sea off Wesley!
We wreak havoc in the place: tell you what some adults encouraged that sort of dangerous living.
People would be riding in a truck, or so called buss; some drivers with commonsense would be talking time going to a destination; when all of a sudden the passenger would shout “juice, juice, juice!”
That means they want speed!
When this guy suggest speed bumps in a place like Dominica, he is talking about creating accidents, or if not out right murder; he want people dead.
Dangerous; fast driving concern the police!
Issue citations!
You’re citing suggestion of “speed bumps” to control traffic, going to and fro from Mahaut/Massacre (vice versa), as Mr Pierre’s letter having plenty of flaws!
Speed is the primary factor in most vehicle accidents, increasing both risk and severity. As drivers move faster, they have less time to respond to road conditions and any resulting collision causes more damage.
To counter the problem of speeding, one can choose from a number of traffic calming tools to encourage safe driving. Speed limits, speed bumps, speed humps, roundabouts, signs, etc are among the strategies used to slow drivers down and increase driver awareness. Although speed zones also encourage safe driving, they can be difficult and expensive to enforce on a larger scale. In areas where speeding carries heightened risk, vertical deflections will impose speed reduction. Speed humps and speed bumps are examples of these vertical deflections, and are widely used because of their ease of installation and low cost.
Welcome home Bro where you will be vilified for speaking truth. In our land, the one you love so dearly those returning with life experience that can help reshape our stagnant way of thinking are deemed a threat to how we know and like it so be careful. Diasporans are NOT looked upon very kindly regardless of the hypocritical smiles that come your way every now and then. Like my granny use to tell me: “only pick the battles you can win regardless of how long the fight goes on”. Hopefully your step will get fixed.
Are with you about the attitude to “diasporans”. There was a time that we considered moving the family to DA. Incompetent lawyers and people trying to rip you off put paid to that idea. As a result we kept our family, our experience our investments and our resources in the UK. Of course now that the link is broken, our children and grandchildren will also be lost to DA. It’s all so short sighted ….
Speed bumps for real so strange that was.never.done.although there was a traffic accident some years ago with this school child crossing the road and got hit by an incoming bike. The road is like the people’s yard they stroll along the road even if they see the vehicles.coming. some mahaut folks don’t like themselves. Is so it is so take precautions everyone till something is done…slot of the guys just pull up by the road from morn I’ll night like they got no work to do around their homes.
I hope Blackmore look into the issue with your step. When the Chinese were working on the road there was.much talk about relocating people to have the road on the Bayside don’t know what happened. I don’t even like to drive though mahaut trust me. Anyway is not now eh that mahaut vibes gan be checked that is on the back burner.I don’t know if de parlrep too blind to see these things.