Labasa Roads - turn tarsealed roads in gravel? Is it the solution

This could actually work.

Voice of the People - Fiji Times Online: "Labasa roads

THE roads in the Labasa Town Council boundary are in a pathetic condition and the council is mum on this issue.

They should do the opposite thing and 'gravel the tarsealed roads''.

Knee deep potholes would be filled, which would bring temporary relief to drivers and vehicle owners.

SALEND KUMAR, Labasa"

PWD, roads and water pipes

Voice of the People - Fiji Times Online: "Damaged pipes

THREE months ago PWD installed new water mains on Petrie Road in Tamavua along the roadside and forgot to seal it permanently with tar.

Constant rain has lead the pipes to bleed slowly and now the main pipes are visible.

To prevent it from further damage, urgent action is now required to prevent citizens' money from going to waste.

In contrast to the above experience, the private sector has invested heavily in improving customer services.

Now it's time for government agencies to play catch-up.

We the consumers have gotten used to a heightened level of customer service from private sector organisations and are applying the same service benchmarks to our consumption of citizen

services and would penalise administrations that fall short.

Perhaps the ultimate objective of public sector service delivery efforts is to remove the burden of compliance from the shoulders of citizens.

After all, the best type of service transaction is the one you don't have to make.

Param Singh
Suva"

LTA and roads authorities sleeping on the job!

I guess they're too busy trying to figure out how much profits they've made over the past year. Perhaps they've been helping police setup radar traps to catch people speeding in places that are safe to speed in anyway.

Since LTA is a profit making body, it's only right that they spare their efforts in the right direction. Communities needs are not their concern.

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Sigatoka roads too dangerous - Fiji Times Online: "Sigatoka roads too dangerous
(Sunday, January 29, 2006)

A SIGATOKA bus company has suspended services on two routes, citing pathetic road conditions.

Valley Buses Limited chief clerk Uday Narayan said they had suspended services indefinitely on the Nasau to Nacocolevu route as well as on Nabaka Road.

Mr Narayan said there was no gravel, just mud on the road, which made it very slippery and dangerous to travel on.

'We don't want to take a risk with the lives of passengers,' he said.

'These two roads have many hills and it's too dangerous for the buses to travel up because if it slips, there is no support on either side and it can fall off cliffs.

'Even if we send buses it won't go up these hills because they are too steep and very slippery. There's no gravel for the tyres to grip.' Mr Narayan said roads on some of the routes they serviced were overgrown with bush, turning them into single-lane roads.

He said that was dangerous as drivers could not see oncoming traffic through the thick bush and overgrown tree branches.

He said they had written to the West road engineer and sent a copy to Land Transport Authority in November last year. Mr Narayan said a month later when nothing had been done another letter was sent this time to the LTA Western office and copied to the LTA chief executive officer but still nothing had been done."

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LTA helping make the media and printing presses rich.

The article below goes to show how poor the planning of National Road Safety Council (NRSC) and the LTA efforts are, when it comes to road safety. The "Arrive Alive" campaign run by the NRSC last year, was a total failure. More people died during the campaign in the first month of this year then in the years past.

The failure of such road safety campaigns stems from the fact that the campaigns are a simple rehash of whats been done in the past. It only serves to make the media and printing presses rich, whereas the actual message remains boring, obsolete and commanding.

This idea of the putting bilboards will only serve to make riches for the winners of the tender process.

What is really lacking on our roads, are proper signage. I regularly drive between Nadi and Suva and I see fair number of old worn out and broken road signs all over the place. Not to mention the need for new ones which can become better guidelines for motorists. It somehow never factors in the blame list when an accident occurs.

On the other hand, why is it even LTA's responsibility for enforcement of road rules. They are not responsible for the roads themselves, so why should act like they have the god given right to patrol and penalise all the happenings on the roads.

A point that I shall discuss later is the LTA's criteria for issuing drivers licences. They constantly blame the driver attitude for accidents. Perhaps they should consider how they've issued licences to drivers with bad attitude in the first place.

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Authority wants roadside signs - Fiji Times Online: "Authority wants roadside signs
(Monday, January 30, 2006)

THE Land Transport Authority of Fiji has decided to set up roadside billboards in an effort to remind drivers to follow road rules.

Authority acting chief executive Aptinko Vaurasi said a tender would be put out to contract a company to work on the billboards over the next few months.

'We have plans to put up billboards to pass on a good message. We need to put proper designs on them to capture the attention of drivers but it's a very sensitive issue because at the same time we don't want to distract drivers and let it affect their driving,' Mr Vaurasi said.

'We have to look at a way to send the message properly and so it needs to be done professionally.'

Mr Vaurasi said the billboards would carry LTA emergency hotline numbers that could be used to report illegal vehicles and drivers.

'We have been receiving a number of calls on these hotline numbers. They are against buses, taxi drivers, carriers and even private vehicles,' he said."

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Back to blogging

Been away from blogging about the rotten state of our roads. Couldn't spare time writing for the last 6 months. Been really busy with work and all.

In that time, the road conditions have deteriorated even further. "Potholes" as word is probably the most frequently uttered word in this country.