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Thursday, March 28, 2024
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An Idea for Traffic Control

Dear Source:
In thirty years of driving on this island, I have received one (1) ticket for a 'moving violation'. That is one more that most of the people I know. Like many of the people I know, I have received lots of parking tickets, so I know I'm not an angel. There are lots of speed limit, caution, no turns, yield and stop signs posted on St. Thomas. The driving public ignores them and the police ignore the drivers who ignore them. Spending a bunch of money on more signs may make our legislators think they are doing something to improve public safety, but that action is unlikely to slow any cars, reform any drivers or save a child's life. Speed bumps will.
Speed bumps will inconvenience us in the hours when there are no children to be seen, but they will also slow us down when our kids are on their way to and from school, at their most vulnerable. Speed bumps do their own monitoring. Nobody gets a $25. ticket for ignoring them. They just hit their heads on the roof of their cars and spill coffee all down the front of their clean, freshly pressed shirts. And they have nobody else to blame. People don't ignore speed bumps twice. Maybe that's why in some places they're referred to as 'sleeping policemen'. Only they never go to sleep on the job. They don't require pay cheques, health insurance or vacations. In fact, they are pretty economical. And they have nothing better to do than slow down our drivers and save our kids' lives.
Mina Orenstein
St. Thomas

Editor's note: We welcome and encourage readers to keep the dialogue going by responding to Source commentary. Letters should be e-mailed with name and place of residence to source@viaccess.net.

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