Have you noticed the missing yellow lines along our roads?

I have to admit I hadn’t until it was brought to my attention by one of our readers.

This is what he wrote to The NRA:

Dear Mr Parchment

I note that many yellow lines have been destroyed by sidewalks and road alterations or just faded away. For example the yellow line by Kel Thompsons new building by the fish market includes a sidewalk which built over the lines . In fact he partially built on government road!

To compound this the buses on the other side park well into the road. All of this is a serious road risk for pedestrians.

However in driving around town there are numerous samples where lines are covered or not seen.

I am bringing this to the attention of the NRA in the hope that some action may take place.

Kind regards

END

The reader has made a valid point. He also asked me if I knew what had happened to the road sweeper?

I haven’t but it has been missing from our roads for a long time.

I well remember seeing it every weekday early morning in the George Town centre. Then it vanished.

This is the same with the manual road sweepers. What we get now are the blowers. They blow the dirt from our roads to other areas where it doesn’t show – into other areas covered in dirt.

When the blowers first came upon the scene they were actually suckers. They had a huge bag attached to them. Now they blow the dirt and more apparently the leaves.

And then there is the noise?

Any breeze will blow the leaves back to exactly the same place as they originally were laying.

And this is generally back into the road gutter against the sidewalk and covering up any yellow lines that still might have been seen.

So these blowers have now taken the place of the road sweeping machine and the sweepers. The sweepers had not only a broom but an enclosed cart where the leaves and dirt was deposited and hauled away.

However, getting back to the yellow lines. How often have you seen them ever re-painted?

Have you ever wondered what type of paint is used? Are there any rules here to state what the composition is?

In the USA there are rules, because in the USA there are rules for every single thing, including rules. I kid you not.

I well remember actually slipping up on a yellow line when it was wet.

That won’t happen now in front of the George Town fish market. Property Developer has, according to our reader, placed a sidewalk on top of it!

At least we know it isn’t missing. It’s still there. It’s just been covered over by concrete.

UPDATE:

I received a telephone call from one of our readers who tells me that he saw the mechanical road sweeper doing its job by Anderson Square in George Town last week.

The reader also pointed out that many of the white lines that accompany the STOP signs on the side roads leading onto the main roads are missing.

He also drew my attention to the common practice of pedestrian crossings being placed at the ends of these side roads. It is an offense to stop on a pedestrian crossing, but the only way a driver can see if the road he wants to turn onto is clear, is to do just that.

The NRA should look into this as the caller is 100% correct.