Man Made Disaster

For those of us living to the south of Faliraki the last two years have been a worsening disaster: We have watched with despair the sometimes comical, sometimes frightening, more often just suicidal attempts at improving the road.
Nobody involved in this project appears to have any idea of what they are doing; I’ve lost count of the amount of holes that have appeared in the road after it rains due to poor quality construction methods and I wonder how many people have had to pay out for the damage these cause to our cars - myself included as I damaged a wheel on a stormy night near the golf shop. How many accidents have been caused because of these badly constructed and maintained surfaces?

The way they try to guard the roadworks is almost criminal, how often have you passed a man with a red flag supposedly controlling the traffic safely past works in progress? These people are either looking aimlessly into the sky or more often than not talking on mobile phones..  his job is to warn you and protect the workforce! A basic essential in creating a protection zone around roadworks is that the driver approaching them must understand what he has to do and they shouldn’t confuse. How often can you say that here? The standard of equipment doesn’t meet the standards set in other European countries, and sometimes you just have to shake your head at the practices being undertaken.

What sort of image do these works give to our summer visitors, many of whom return every year? I suspect it’s an extra factor in the reduction in numbers of tourists caused by the global recession. Do the Island and all of us who live and almost daily have to deal with this problem a great service, get a plan that finishes sections at a time and DO IT SAFELY!

Concerned of Afandou

Postscript: Since this article was written there has been a serious accident in the roadworks just south of Afandou. One driver is now apparently in intensive care. As the writer above says it was an accident waiting to happen, and we can only hope that this serves as a reminder to those who manage this project to improve safety standards...