Airport Expressway at night

On 05 November 2022, the time was 2115 hrs (9. 15 pm) along the airport expressway in the night. It had been raining all evening. There was a steady drizzle which needed the wipers at an intermediate setting. Some ‘bright spark’ had decided to switch off the expressway lighting (due economic pressure?), creating a situation somewhat like the Southern Expressway which doesn’t have lighting in the night.

When I pay money to use the expressway, I must be given the best service which will provide maximum safety and prevent accidents. It didn’t happen that night. The best strategy was to reduce the speed to about 80 to 60km per hour from the customary 100km per hour.

Surely, the name of the exercise must ‘Risk Management’. It made it almost impossible sometimes to see ahead and in order to activate the Expressway side reflectors, one had to use the bright beam on the head lights blinding the driver of the car ahead through the rearview mirror! Who makes these decisions anyway and blindly follow directives without monitoring the risks? What a shame. Switching off lights when they were most needed was downright dangerous.

Yet there were other vehicles cruising along at over 100km per hour blissfully oblivious to the potential dangers. No wonder our road accident record is so bad. When the chips are down, there is no safety net. Someone has to be predictive, preventive and proactive.

We have to balance safety against economy when it comes to road transportation. I think for that matter, all forms transportation (road, rail, maritime and aviation) whether private or public within the island, needs a Safety Board like the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in USA.

Capt. G A Fernando