HAPPY belated Valentine Day to one and all. I’m a few days late, but, hey, whatever. This week my pet peeve is the new set of traffic lights at the Collector’s Hill Junction. While I commend the Ministry of Works and Engineering and then Minister Lt. Col. David Burch for successfully completing the project, it is not improving the flow of traffic and I have some recommendations on how this system can be improved.

More on this after we check out the Top 20.Improving to number one is Ciara with her essential selection Promise, which is quickly climbing the international music charts and which has finally dethroned Beyonce to assume the top spot in Bda.

Tumbling to number two is Irreplaceable by the Queen of Hip Hop and R&B, Beyonce. Making a big jump to number three is>Smack That by Akon featuring Eminem, a catchy track with a cool melody.

Falling to number four is I Wanna Love Yo$> by Akon featuring Snoop Doggy Dog. Falling to number five is Janet (Jackson) with her huge hit So Excited. Changing gears to dancehall.

Slipping to number six is Bermudian stud artist Collie Buddzs with his huge international hCome Around. Improving to number seven is American I<$>diva turned Golden Globe winner (and Oscar nominee), vocalist extraordinaire Jennifer Hudson with her monster hit And I Am Tellinou<$>. This song still makes me shiver.

Improving to number eight is Wede <$>by Bajan Bombshell Rihanna.

Shifting gears to house music, falling to number nine is Love’s the Onlrug <$>by Ultra Nate. Slipping to number 10 is Come to Me by Diddy and Nicole Scherzinger. I went out on the town the other night and heard this one at one of Bermuda’s new hotspots, Café Cairo, which was crowded with people.

Sliding to num11 is My Love by the man I like to call JT (Justin Timberlake), who has regrettably split with his hottie, cutie girlfriend of a few years, Cameron Diaz.

Up to number 12 is last week’s essential new joint, Runaway Love by Ludacris featuring Mary J. Now Blige, two very strong artists who have produced a monster track. In fact, the diva won a Grammy earlier this week and tore up the place.

Down to numb13 is Borderline<$> by comeback kid Jody Watley. Falling to number 14 is Lost Without You by Robin Thicke. On a somewhat dancehall tip, down to num 15 is Ring the Alarm by Beyonce featuring Collie Buddz.

Falling to number 16Jump<$> by Madonna, a very poppy, catchy track. Slipping to number 17 is Show Me W You Got <$>by Jay Z. Now this week’s essential new joint. In at number 18 is You, by Lloyd featuring L’il Wayne.

Falling tomber 19 is Sexy Back by Justin Timberlake. And rounding things out at number 20 is Change Me by Reuben Studdard.

Now back to this week’s word - the Collector’s Hill/South Shore Road Stoplights.

Firstly, well done to everyone who was in any way involved in this initiative. I understand the motivation for it and support all efforts to improve traffic flow, anywhere on the island.

Secondly, there is a problem. Traffic that is not coming off Collector’s Hill and is flowing along South Road is only allowed to go in one direction at a time. This is a problem, because the traffic is always backed up in one direction or the other. The challenge is that since people heading west may wish to turn right onto Collector’s Hill, under the current system, you cannot have traffic flowing in both directions.

Thirdly, here is the solution. Do not allow traffic heading west to turn right onto Collector’s Hill. Instead, have traffic wishing to turn right use Sayle Road.

This way, traffic can flow both ways when the lights on South Shore turn green.

Presently, the light is only green in one direction. If the traffic wanting to go over to Collector’s Hill could use Sayle Road, both lights for traffic traveling in either direction on South Road could be green at the same time, and this would eliminate the backups that we currently see, which go back as far as Devonshire Bay on one end, and down as far as the bottom of McGall’s Hill in the other. Now, to the residents of Sayle Road who might complain, I say too bad.

Sayle Road is not a private estate road, it is a main, public road. What you will find is that people who don’t want to turn over Sayle Road will use another route - if coming from the east they will turn right at St. Mark’s Road, or they will not use South Road at all.

There is no problem for traffic heading east to turn onto Collector’s Hill because they do not affect, impede or go across traffic that is coming out of the east and heading west.

Admittedly, I am not an environmental planner, a city planner or an architect, but this seems to make good, logical sense. Just a suggestion.

Peace —