Dear Sir,

I am fully aware that this letter will sound to many like the rants of an out-of-season Scrooge, but I think it’s time that we reconsider the practice of lining East Broadway or the roundabout for public-awareness events. Yes, Johnny Barnes is a wonderful part of our history, but there is a massive gap between the impacts of one man waving every day of the year and what we see now.

My annoyance with this practice turned closer to anger a few years ago when I saw the Bermuda Road Safety Council lined up along East Broadway holding signs intended to be read. Let’s think about this, the drivers of moving vehicles are supposed to look away from the road for long enough to read a row of small-font, handheld signs ... and this is being organised by the Bermuda Road Safety Council.

This is, in a word, idiotic.

I held my tongue then because I know that the practice is somewhat of a tradition here and I didn’t want to be the one yelling, “Bah, humbug”.

Then there was this morning (October 5, 2023). Traffic was backed up far earlier to the west than normal for the time of day and I assumed there must have been an accident. Nope. The disturbance was a 50-foot tall, flashing monument to hypocrisy erected by the very organisation whose job it is to respond to the sort of accidents that it was lucky not to have caused today.

To my knowledge, no accidents have been caused by this practice yet, at least not a serious one, but it is only a matter of time. The distraction caused by the 50ft flashing tower of idiocracy was not the only potential cause, either. The resultant traffic — which is significant — encourages the sort of bad driving that leads to accidents. Even if it does not, morning traffic is bad enough before we add the giant, blue-flashing, fire truck-induced rubbernecking. Do we really need to cost half the island 20 minutes of their day to observe whatever group is advertising its cause that day?

To be fair, all of the events that I can remember are worthwhile causes, with the exception of politicians whom I have no interest in seeing anytime, anywhere. To the firefighters, nurses, teachers, cops, road safety workers or whoever holds these events, please understand that I and the island hugely respect and appreciate what you do. But let’s not inconvenience and endanger the public to draw attention to yours or any other cause.

ALEX SMITH

Southampton