Dear Editor,
There has been a proliferation of road races in the city both in the day and night. These are said to be held to help one charity or another.
While one is not against helping others, these races create huge problems in the city. A case in point was the Guardian 5K on Saturday, November 5, 2016. At about 19:00, we were in the process of taking home a female friend who became ill while we were out. While it did not seem an emergency, she had to return home for some medication. She resides at Kensington Crescent, off Lady Musgrave and Oxford roads. Although advising the people manning the road closure that we had a sick person in the car we were told that the race had just started and we could not take her home! She had to wait in the car, on the road for close to 45 minutes before eventually being allowed to go home. This, I think, is unacceptable.
By the way, this situation also prevails during the carnival season. One wonders what would happen in the case of a real emergency, as even if one is permitted to pass, the participants take over the entire street, so vehicular traffic is impossible. I would like to suggest that future events of this nature be held at the National Stadium or on roads where the travelling public is not inconvenienced. This could be, for example, on the Mandela Highway or Washington Boulevard where one side of the corridor could be utilised and the other could be used for two-way traffic for the duration of the event.
Carl
carl_bell@hotmail.com
There has been a proliferation of road races in the city both in the day and night. These are said to be held to help one charity or another.
While one is not against helping others, these races create huge problems in the city. A case in point was the Guardian 5K on Saturday, November 5, 2016. At about 19:00, we were in the process of taking home a female friend who became ill while we were out. While it did not seem an emergency, she had to return home for some medication. She resides at Kensington Crescent, off Lady Musgrave and Oxford roads. Although advising the people manning the road closure that we had a sick person in the car we were told that the race had just started and we could not take her home! She had to wait in the car, on the road for close to 45 minutes before eventually being allowed to go home. This, I think, is unacceptable.
By the way, this situation also prevails during the carnival season. One wonders what would happen in the case of a real emergency, as even if one is permitted to pass, the participants take over the entire street, so vehicular traffic is impossible. I would like to suggest that future events of this nature be held at the National Stadium or on roads where the travelling public is not inconvenienced. This could be, for example, on the Mandela Highway or Washington Boulevard where one side of the corridor could be utilised and the other could be used for two-way traffic for the duration of the event.
Carl
carl_bell@hotmail.com