Leader of the Opposition Hon. Edwin Astwood is chiding the Washington Misick administration for its consideration as to whether to switch from driving on the left side of the road to the right side.
The opposition leader, in a press statement, stated that for the government to be harboring such thought meant that they are ‘driving on the wrong side of the road’. The following is the press statement:
The PNP Government stated that “the government is considering whether it is time to switch to driving on the right-hand side of the road, as is done in the United States of America.”
Really??? As I always say “anything that the government is doing that is good for our people and our country, I will support it.” This considering changing the side of the road that we drive on in our Turks & Caicos Islands is completely not supported by me. In fact, it is extremely unwise to consider switching from driving on the left to driving on the right.
With all the current issues facing the people of the country, this PNP government now wants to put our people’s lives in danger by abruptly switching the side of the road we drive on for many decades. I see this switch causing many accidents and potential loss of lives. This change will be very difficult for people to get right. It will take a long time for people to get accustom to this.
The Honourable Premier and his PNP administration need to reverse course on this decision. I can also envision persons pulling out of corners and driving on the same side as oncoming traffic. I am almost sure that all our motor vehicle drivers subconsciously know which side to drive on in our country, and likewise subconsciously switch over to the other side whenever we touch down in the USA.
There is no need to switch which side of the road we drive on, persons are already at the liberty to choose which type of vehicle to purchase, whether right hand or left hand.
It appears that now that this government is running out of PDM initiatives that they met in the final stages before rollout, to rubber stamp and now release. In particular, with the passing of the new budget, it can clearly be seen that they have no new or life-changing to bring to the table. I ask people not to simply take my word on this, check the records on this.
We are not seeing any creative insight from this government, and now that they have to think for themselves- our people are now seeing the type of policies and initiatives they are coming up with to implement; like this change of the side of the road that we drive on, and their policies that complicate the establishment of business in the country, which has their desired effect of pricing the small man out of the market.
We have many critical issues that are facing our country that needs immediate attention, such as the High Cost of living, Crime, Illegal Immigration, and Unemployment, but we see no new policies or new initiatives, or a new way of doing things. Nothing that contributes to the real advancement of our people.
Instead, we see a PNP administration that is clueless about addressing the real problems facing our country, and we all now see a failing administration that is trying to distract the people with a bombardment of press releases on novelty events and occurrences.
The Honorable Premier and his Ministers need to get on with the real work they said they came for by addressing the real issues of the country.