Terror, despair in Highway 2000 crash

THE EDITOR, Sir:

I was in a minibus travelling to Westmoreland from Kingston Monday afternoon, June 30, 2014. Someone saw it fit to light a fire in the bushes along Highway 2000, the same reason for the countless accidents that have happened on this road every year.

The end result of this brilliant person's action? The bus slows down and a speeding car drives straight into the back of the bus, followed by an SUV. The driver of the car dies on the spot, and every solitary person in the bus suffers some form of injury, from broken bones to fractures to aches in the back, head and neck, to just emotional shock and dismay. The bus had to be torn apart to get out at least three rows of the passengers.

Now, the police arrive on the scene, as usual a good couple of minutes after the event. I am guessing not enough vehicles. They pronounced the man dead and I'm guessing trying to find whatever information is needed to contact his family members and so forth. Understood. But what next?

Well, all I could see is something similar to the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake in 2010: Civilians lying on the roadside helplessly around me crying for pain in all areas of their bodies. And where are the paramedics? NONE. ZERO. NIL! Where are most of the officers? Still tending to the dead man some metres away.

PROFESSIONAL INTERVENTION

It is understood, when incidents like this occur, especially for the severe injuries like broken bones, a professional is needed to intervene in order to avoid further injuries. However, you are telling me that not one of the approximately three police vehicles could bring the others who were able to help themselves to some extent to a nearby hospital for treatment? Suppose the accident was more severe?

It was not until members of the neighbouring community and a few of the stronger hurt persons started to cry out and curse that these trained lawmen realised they needed to make their way to the bus of approximately 20 injured civilians?

And for the beautiful passers-by with their fancy camera phones and high-tech vehicles, it was more important to stand and stare and take pictures for over half an hour than to offer a helping hand to your fellow Jamaicans and transport a few to a nearby hospital? Splendid! Just B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!

AND ... Awesome government, with all these beautiful health facilities that run so well, and the taxpayers' money that built the toll road, isn't it just a beautiful reflection of the work that is being done that the highway that civilians pay to use, that runs 43.5 kilometres from Kingston to Clarendon has not one proper emergency vehicle that could have helped these people? Oh what a beautiful system you have running here.

But had it been one of you officials, Government or Opposition, or even just one tourist, what urgency it would be to console you. Helicopters, ambulances we did not know existed would appear and all will be well right? But three vehicles collided, one person died, approxi-mately 20 injured, and it was only the cry of the people's frustration of injustice that led the paramedics to come on the scene over one hour later. ONE WHOLE HOUR AFTER THE FATAL EVENT? MARVELLOUS!

And, of course, at the hospital, in the 'emergency room', there is another two hours of waiting before anything can happen for the not-so-major injuries like fractures, regardless of the fact that the patients just came out of an accident and we are unsure of what could be happening internally, just because of the lack of resources. What great public health-care facilities we have here!

TRAFFIC PILE-UP

And for the media's report on the incident, I read in a newspaper, "The crash caused a pile-up of traffic on the highway as it took emergency workers some time to get to the scene, take the injured to hospital, and cut Powell from the wreckage."

Brilliant! "Some time"? You mean over an hour. "Pile-up of traffic"? What about lack of urgency, because these people seem not to be the highest in society?

Remember what caused the accident? Less of reckless driving and more of the smoke. The bus driver slowed down. You could have slowed down, your son, daughter or aunt could have slowed down, yet still, someone hit you and could cost you your life or broken bones from hip straight to your feet like one of the passengers, leaving you helplessly to sit and mourn in need of help.

We were lucky. There was a bus filled with people, some of us who could have helped, and persons from the community. But what if you were alone, alone in the night, on the 'safe' Highway 2000 you paid to use, where the paramedics would come no less than an hour after you had crashed (if you were strong enough to make one phone call)? What then?

Sit in silence, my friends, and watch the changes that will happen in this beautiful country of ours. Sit in silence and watch our country bloom. Sit. In silence.

WHERE IS MY JAMAICAN

Whithorn, Westmoreland

where ismyjamaican@live.com