Efforts by the National Works Agency to improve pedestrian safety along the island’s main road network, has received a major boost with the donation of some J$25-million from MoneyGram International. The money is to facilitate the installation of pedestrian crossings and road signs, especially in the vicinity of schools, island-wide.
Speaking at the Handing-over Ceremony at the Ministry of Housing, Transport, Water and Works (MHTWW), on Thursday, July 26, 2007, Minister Robert Pickersgill, in accepting the donation of signs, material and equipment said that the government believed that re-painting the pedestrian crossings and installing very visible signs, will greatly enhance the safety of pedestrians, in particular the children.
In his speech, Minister Pickersgill said while pedestrian fatalities have been lowered in Jamaica in recent years, the spate of deaths and injuries remain unacceptably high. “We must therefore make greater provision for facilities, awareness and care for Pedestrians, through programmes of collaboration.”
MoneyGram has donated a total of 1,600 signs. These include Pedestrian Crossing and Crossing Ahead signs.
In addition to road signs, NWA has also received from MoneyGram, material and equipment to facilitate the marking of pedestrian crossings. These include 20,000 pounds of thermoplastic for marking 350 pedestrian crossings island-wide and 1,500 pounds of glass beads, which will be used to increase the reflectivity of road makings.
The decision to use thermoplastic is based on the fact that, thermoplastic, while being somewhat more expensive than road marking paint, lasts longer. Paint lasts for 3-6 months, while thermoplastic lasts 2-3 years.
The new state-of-the-art Pre-Melter machine donated by MoneyGram, is capable of melting up to 1,000 pounds of thermoplastic at a time. This will enable workmen to re-paint an increased number of crossings over a shorter period of time and will also make the job of re-painting less strenuous on the individuals who undertake this task.
The re-marking of crossings is expected to get underway in early August.
