Taxi drivers block roads with their cars

Parking their cars in the middle of the road to block traffic and sharing liquor among themselves was the way that some taximen protested against the new Road Traffic Act in downtown Kingston yesterday.

One could hardly tell that these drivers were upset as they created a party-like atmosphere in the middle of the road along North Parade in the vicinity of Ward Theatre.

While a group of them stood drinking and talking happily, stranded commuters looked on.

Among the commuters was an irate Nicholas Heslop, who said that he was waiting on a vehicle to travel to his home in Bull Bay, St Andrew, for almost two hours.

“From day, a so it a gwaan. So dem block it, di police come and move dem, and a so di man dem park back inna di middle a road,” he told THE STAR.

BIGGEST CONCERN

While he sympathises with the drivers, Heslop was just eager to reach his destination.

Meanwhile, Amoya Bryan, a student of Excelsior High School, said that while she had no problem getting to downtown Kingston from her school, her biggest concern was how she was going to get to Portmore, where she lives.

While one of the drivers, who gave his name as Beenie, noted that the commuters were being affected by the protest, he said that taximen had to show their displeasure with the new act. “Whole night wi a go bleach yah so if wi have to,” he said. Not even the presence of the police could get the taximen to move their vehicles. Instead, the lawmen had to divert traffic coming from King Street in the opposite direction on to Orange Street rather than the usual route.

Soon, new bottles of rum were uncorked, and the drivers refilled their cups.

The mood of merriment only changed when one of the drivers, who had parked in the road, tried to move his vehicle. The other taximen quickly swarmed him and grabbed his keys.