Trooper flips over on Belchina Bridge
For months now, drivers have been complaining about the intersection at the corner of Douglas Jones and North Front Streets, saying the area is plagued by a number of traffic hazards that range from speeding drivers to blind spots in the area. Today three people could have been seriously injured in an accident that occurred at the junction shortly after two this afternoon.
The accident, which involved a small Ford wagon car and a Trooper, left the bigger vehicle turned on its side on the approach to the Belchina Bridge. According to Ben Avilez, who was driving the car on North Front Street, he approached the intersection, stopped at the traffic sign and then was slowly making his way across when he crashed into the side of the trooper which Avilez claims was travelling at a high speed.
Ben Avilez
“No slow down, none at all, run a thing. I always drive so and I always ease down too, I never come fast because I know. This is the first time any accident happen to me; never yet touch a vehicle.”
Q: “You never run the stop sign?”
Ben Avilez
“No, I never run through like that, no. I slow right down.”
Travelling inside the Trooper at the time was Jaime Price and his wife who is reported to have received minor injuries and had to be lifted out of the vehicle.
Blanche Atkins, Witness
“I sit down on my verandah and I look and I see a man run and jump on top. Maybe commonsense tell him to help whoever in there and he lift the lady out.”
According to Benito Bol, a traffic warden, he had just left the area when the accident occurred. Bol says as the law stands right now, the Trooper had the right of way and the car should have come to a full stop.
Benito Bol, Traffic Warden
“Well, right now what happen is that we have a stop sign on North Front Street right, in other words, you have the right a way between like Belchina and Douglas Jones; that is the right of way, at this time. So what happen is that that vehicle was supposed to have come to a stop here if any traffic the come from both sides. Then after he is sure that no vehicle is coming then he proceeds on.”
But drivers on the scene told News Five that even if you stop at the sign, it is difficult to see any oncoming traffic on Douglas Jones Street because of a zinc fence that runs along the length of a piece of property on North Front Street. It is this blind spot, that Avilez says may have led to the accident. Traffic warden Bol admits there is a problem with visibility.
Ben Avilez
“When I see that everything was clear, when the same time I tell you. When I see that everything was clear, you see what happen is that this fence, that’s why maybe, I never see.”
Benito Bol
“Well it could be because as you notice the height of the car is kind of low right, it could be a little hazard in a sense, you know.”
But according to Inspector Martin Yama, Head of Traffic Branch
although he agrees that the fence is a traffic hazard, drivers should first comply with traffic signs and proceed with extreme caution especially when travelling through intersections. Yama says at this point no one has been charged.
According to Inspector Yama this is the second accident of its kind that has occurred at the junction. Last year a vehicle completely turned over. He says it is the responsibility of the Traffic Department to remove any objects that obstruct driver’s vision in the area.
