April 28, 2011Dear Sir,As a mother, runner and cyclist who frequently uses Bermuda’s wonderful Railway Trail, I’d like to make a public safety request to the Ministry of Works & Engineering. Several areas of main road that cross the Trail desperately need yellow “slow-down” strips for traffic, coupled with crosswalks for Trail users, to prevent a potentially tragic accident. The most dangerous Trail crossing, at least in the central section, lies on South Road between the Paget traffic lights and Modern Mart. Even adult walkers, runners, equestrians and cyclists know they must be super-vigilant to cross this treacherous section of road to safely reach the Trail on the other side; to navigate a child, or, worse, a child on a bike, across the busy road, as traffic in both directions careens to and from the lights, is literally quite often a dash for your life, particularly due to westward traffic swinging up the hill at speed around a blind corner.Heading west, other areas of danger include Ord Road (at “S” Hill”), where Trail users are again at the mercy of a blind corner; Cobb’s Hill Road, where the Trail crosses the road at the base of two speed-inducing hills; and Khyber Pass. There may be many others … W&E road installations such as speed strips, speed bumps, and special road surfacing have greatly improved the level of safety warnings for drivers in recent years. Surely the danger spots I mention would qualify for similar attention? By doing so, we’d also be adding an extra element of delineation to the Trail route, which is not only well used by Bermuda residents, but heavily marketed as a tourism attraction as well.One other road-safety query: why is a parking space allowed on the East Broadway corner outside Great Things near Spurling Hill? When even a regular-size vehicle is parked here, it protrudes into passing traffic on that bend; in the case of a parked truck or wide SUV, traffic has to physically swerve around it, especially passing buses or container trucks. Given the bad habit of so many local drivers of routinely swerving into facing lanes when there’s an obstacle in theirs, with no thought for oncoming drivers, it can only be a matter of short time before a major head-on collision results here.ROSEMARY JONESPaget