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Hit and run blues

July 7, 2009

Dear Sir,

When I thought about writing this letter (my first after 25 years in Bermuda), it was to vent outrage, but now I think a more important social and road safety point should also be made.

First of all the reason to be angry. At 5.45 this morning (Tuesday July 7) I was training on my pedal bike, heading west towards Flatts Village on North Shore along a route I have done countless times. It was only first light, but the road was well lit, I had my bike light on and was wearing a shirt which was mainly white. Thus I was clearly visible. I noticed a white car coming towards me about 200 feet away. Its wheels were slightly over the centre line; I was relatively close to the wall on the correct side of the road. The car kept coming towards me and veering more across the centre of the road and despite a last second shout I was sideswiped and knocked off. I looked at the driver in that split second; it was as if I was not there. Immediately behind me a lady on a motor bike stopped not only to see I was able to stand up (she was kind), but also to advise she was lucky to have been missed.

The driver knows full well I was hit (so does my bike). He or she stopped briefly up the road, looked back and drove on. Maybe in the driver's mind the fact that I could move was exoneration. Perhaps the driver is unaware that the law requires immediate reporting of accidents involving personal injury and the exchange of details. I certainly want to pursue both damages and a charge of driving without due care and attention, but without a licence number there is nothing, of course, I can do. I can only hope that when this driver is as careless again, he or she hits a wall rather than a person and his or her own blood flows.

The more general and important point is that falling asleep, drugs/drink or using a cell phone are the probable reasons for the accident. There are laws on intoxication, but it has always bemused me why Members of Parliament seem unable to write a law forbidding the use of hand-held phone devices whilst in charge of a vehicle, car, motor bike or pedal bike. What vested interest do they have? One reads in the Royal Gazette of the suffering caused as a result of bad driving habits and the messages of condolence from Ministers and other MPs. Yet this single obvious habit goes uncontrolled and is seen constantly each day. Even if the Police Service find the law difficult to enforce, getting something passed by Parliament would send a clear message and any reduction in this selfish and stupid practice would be beneficial.

SIMON MOORE

Hamilton Parish

Walking Bermuda

June 24, 2009

Dear Sir,

As an avid walker I am concerned about the lack of sidewalks on Bermuda's roads. I'm sure that many people, who already dodge the traffic on foot would agree. I'm also sure many more people would walk if there were safe sidewalks.

In addition to the benefits for locals, more sidewalks would make our roads more accessible for tourists on foot. I would like to propose various methods of providing a full net work of sidewalks on major roads. I have noticed that some land owners have given or sold land to provide sidewalks and the Government has acted quickly to provide the path. The problem of course is that these are only 50 to 100 yards long. Compulsory purchase of land has to be the answer. I know this is unpleasant and I suspect that MPs will be reticent to vote in favour of compulsory purchase in case it offends their constituents.

The answer is to hold a referendum on the matter. Given that a sidewalk is only needed on one side of the road, half of the population won't be affected and given that the proposal is only for major roads the proposal is bound to get a majority vote.

The constitution provides for referenda and this is the perfect subject for this type of democratic institution.

Of course, in seeking the support of the majority of Bermudians the question of how to pay for the project has to be addressed. I suggest a temporary increase in import duty to 25 percent for, say six months. Someone will have to crunch the numbers but a three percent increase in duty for six months should generate about $15 million and that would pay for a lot of sidewalks.

The referendum then, would need to ask 'are you in favour of compulsory purchase to provide sidewalks and are you in favour of three percent extra import tax for 6 months to pay for the sidewalks"? Wherever the path has to switch sides (for whatever reason) there should be pedestrian crossings (as there should be wherever the railway trail crosses the road.)

If there are some roads where this method will not work, then consideration may be given to making them one way and reclaiming a good part of the road for pedestrian traffic. I'm sure there are many readers who support this idea and many who will have better ideas to bring footpaths to all our roads, I look forward to reading their comments in these pages in the days to come. I am also sure that our politicians will see that a referendum is the answer to the thorny question of compulsory purchase and extra tax.

MARTIN WILLIAMSON

Paget

Recognise the dysfunction

July 4, 2009

Dear Sir,

Let me commend Mr. Dunleavy (Royal Gazette July 4) for quitting the UBP in his desire "for something new to move us forward again". But the reality is that it is not possible for the black and white communities to move forward again (irrespective of what happens to the UBP) unless, and until, both blacks and whites recognise and acknowledge that the terrible dysfunction of the black community is a direct result of the centuries of economic and psychological brutality and cruelty inflicted on the black community by the practice and policy of the philosophy of racism. And then for both, genuinely and sacrificially, attempt to address it.

There are far too many blacks (never mind whites) who insist on minimising both the brutality and the impact of our past in a dozen ways and more. It is, for example, irresponsible and not helpful to compare the chattel slavery of the West with the widespread and ancient forms of slavery throughout the world, including Egypt, where slaves became rulers. There is no more comparison between these two forms of slavery than there is between oranges and apples because both are round. Neither does the relative financial success of a few blacks speak to the disaster among too many young black males and the psychological damage and trauma to all blacks, whether they have money or not, whether they belong to the political elite or the social elite or some other elite. Our continuing racial separateness after 400 years of settlement, with a mere 50 years worthy of black celebration, suggests that a great deal more painful work is needed for the lancing of the centuries old wound than merely wishful thinking or pleasantries and soothing gestures.

EVA N. HODGSON

Slayton got it wrong

July 3, 2009

Dear Sir,

Your opinion column in today's (July 3) Royal Gazette, written by US Consul General Gregory Slayton, made me smile. He talks about freedom being a basic human right, however whilst the United States constitution does give such rights to citizens of the United States, this is not extended to non-US citizens. This is obvious by the way so many people have been kept incarcerated in Guantánamo Bay (which is US territory) and many other secret places run by the CIA in other parts of the world, and six or seven years later, they have the audacity to state, these folks are not terrorists. They have stolen six or seven years of these folks' lives. I was not allowed to make one telephone call when Immigration came aboard the private yacht I was on in Portsmouth, R.I. I wrote to Border Facilitation and Immigration, and the US Consul, and I have not had the courtesy of a reply in the past five weeks. His Excellency, the Governor, and my MP, Mr. John Barritt, are the only two people who have acknowledged my correspondence. (I must also acknowledge that you Sir, did publish my letter and one of your reporters kindly contacted me.) Thank God I am a British Bermudian and I pray that Bermuda will never come under the umbrella of the United States of America.

ANTONY SIESE

Hamilton

Kudos to Glenn Fubler

July 3, 2009

Dear Sir,

I'm writing to congratulate Glenn Fubler and the members of Imagine Bermuda for the work they have done to assist the community in observing the 50th anniversary of the Theatre Boycott. Glenn has worked quietly but persistently for years to make sure that critical events in Bermuda's history, like the Theatre Boycott, are not forgotten. He has also worked tirelessly to provide opportunities for black and white Bermudians to come together to celebrate all that is good about Bermuda and to imagine the possibilities if the barriers that separate us are dismantled. My father, the late David Critchley, would love to have been at last night's anniversary celebration, given the role he played in helping to end segregation in Bermuda, his lifelong commitment to improving race relations on the Island and his friendship with Glenn. During his earlier years of activism, Dad feared that Bermuda's discriminatory practices were too entrenched but he came to believe that true change might be possible if open and non-judgmental dialogue took place.

Glenn is enabling that dialogue with empathy and an unshakeable belief in a better Bermuda.

WENDY DAVIS JOHNSON

Paget

Get message out

July 8, 2009

Dear Sir,

Today's Royal Gazette states that Premier Brown and two companions went to Bayou Classic recently, yes, of course, at the taxpayers expense $4,700. Yes Mr. and Mrs. Bermuda this was paid for by yourselves and this $4,700 could have gone towards the renovation the Salvation Army Home on North Street, a place which houses Bermudians who have found themselves needing help. This construction is in desperate need of repair. So let us all get the message stop the Premier spending our money on himself and his personal whims. Make him answerable to everything.

BRENDA SPEARING

Smith's