
Let me start by confessing that I am no intellectual guru, but from observation and personal assessment, I reckon that better can be done in some cases.
Let’s start with the problem of night driving, especially for the elderly. We have to contend with the bright-light modern-day night-driving syndrome that’s become a nightmare because of the poor visibility it creates while driving.
To my mind, my idea will not solve the problem but can minimize the number of accidents.
All I suggest is that the police and the Road Transportation Board collaborate in painting middle and roadside lines on the edges of streets, roads and highways with reflectors, to determine lines and edges on both sides and enhance the driver’s ability to gauge the spaces and avoid accidents.
Another school of thought is that if there is constant harassment and theft of our cherished visitors, especially those from cruise ships, the answer lies in more surveillance using both visual apparatus and humans, as in plain-clothes police who can record and camouflage the presence of the police. These two forms can create more arrests.
In addition to my previous suggestions, the City of Castries has sidewalk shopping issues and if the youths of the city will not take advantage of the many basketball courts in the city that are underutilized, then change them into Saturday shopping outlets – at least for now.
I hear some banana farmers complaining about the absence of foreign markets for their produce, so I suggest we internalise banana sales, starting with making it mandatory that all students — from pre-school to secondary — consume a banana a day, as well as encouraging other government sectors to adopt that “support local” concept.
Another issue is no space left for driving on roads because we have so many vehicles, so why not suggest a new road-users tax to deal with that issue?
Most employees consider being paid for a day’s work rather than by the week, fortnight or month, so I suggest that there be a lookout for those who’ll always try to cheat the system to get even.
And lastly, there are many adjustable ideas that can change the present but the absence of ideas is partly the problem.
There are many more ideas I can spout out, but for now, I rest my case.