My Take … For what it’s worth
by Carol Hay
Wednesday, October 5, 2005
(The opinions presented in these articles do not necessarily reflect the views of the Hay family!)
Who’s my hero? Jamaican columnist/ journalist Morris Cargill. Never met the man – he’s dead now. During Jamaica’s Reign of Error and Terror in the ‘70s, citizens who wished to hold on to their senses were thankful to discover new sources of strength and
humour.
The highest and the lowest sought comfort where they could. The morning would begin with a loud rustling of the day’s daily ‘Gleaner’ newspaper then a delightful bawl, “Peaches, Blossom, Come quick… Morris Cargill mek dem fart again!”
Morris had two hobbies, provoking pompous people and contributing whenever possible to the misery of politicians and bureaucrats.
I would never be so bigheaded to assume that my Wednesday scribbles could ever solicit the response and respect that Morris Cargill received, but at least I have the backbone to put my name to my articles.
I’m the first to admit that I’ll never be brave enough to take on our Government. That cowardly omission means that I could never borrow Cargill’s socks, let along walk in his shoes.
But I will have my say and take my licks nonetheless. Don’t even get me started on those “name withheld by request’” folk.
I think newspaper editors should devote two pages to these outside contributions - one entitled ‘Letters Worth Reading’ and the other ‘Contributions from the Spineless’. If you don’t have the spunk to put your name to something, to me it carries zilch merit.
But I’m digressing, the substance of today’s column has nothing to do with nameless cowards, I’ll deal with those duppies another time.
Today I want to tackle the foolish suggestion put forth recently by the Road Safety Council that pick-up trucks should not be allowed to tote passengers in the back.
This recent announcement has just been gnawing at my craw for weeks and I can’t sleep with a gnawing craw any more than I can with an abscessed tooth, so here goes: Just whose bright idea was it to bring this crusade to the forefront right now, or any time for that matter? With all due respects to the Road Safety Council members, we have murders, muggings, kidnapping and the likes and our police force is heavily understaffed to boot, and now you advocate this. Priority people!
In my opinion, passengers in the bed of pick-ups is no more dangerous than motorbikes; neither one has seatbelts and all bodies are fair game to being thrown onto the road, run over by other vehicles and all the other gruesome details that you care to add.
I reckon the traffic department’s statistical books have relatively little as it relates to people falling off the back of trucks or a whole truckload of people being thrown out in an accident.
Not that it hasn’t occurred, but, I believe it’s rare. On the other hand, I’ll bet if you check out the motorbike figures, there’re a slew of those reported, probably on a daily basis if you include the wobbly tourists who teeter on our road shoulders like toddlers learning to walk.
There’re probably more accidents and injuries caused by things falling out of the bed of pick-ups, may I suggest you bring that back to the forefront and place your energies there.
To the esteemed RCIP I say please allow this legally enforceable law to grow dust on a shelf somewhere, or sneak in there amongst all the unsolved burglary cases and we’ll never hear about it again!
I’m not going to get into a fighting match with anyone on the Road Safety Committee (the principal characters who I know and admire for work well done), but with all due respect this recent campaign is not one of them. People riding in pick-up trucks, whether for work or play, is a West Indian tradition. It would be like taking the peas out our rice, the dumplin’ from our soup, the pepper out our pots … OK, you get the message.
I’m not saying I’m right, I’m not saying you’re wrong. I’m simply saying, dead or alive, let us be, well … “US”.
There, I’ve said it. My craw has stopped gnawing!
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