Sir,
The article by Bejay Browne on the noise created by the plague of quad bikes was excellent, but does not go far enough (Cyprus Mail, August 1). It is not just in the outlying villages that this menace is rampant, as most of Kato Paphos is similarly affected.
Coupled with this is the increased volume of traffic that uses the inner residential streets due to the closure of the seafront to through traffic. Ikarou Street, for one, has become an abomination of noise, danger and pollution. When the new dual carriageway was opened, running from the Danaes Avenue roundabout to the Tomb of the Kings traffic lights, everyone thought it would solve the traffic problem, but this road remains virtually empty. Presumably it is because it has been given a 50km/h speed limit, and as no Cypriot would dream of driving at such a slow speed, and it is well-known that the police daily wait in the lay-bys with their speed cameras, nobody uses it.
Consequently everything comes thundering along Ikarou Street – JCBs, road diggers, mobile cranes, cement lorries, beach buggies, quad bikes, not to mention the pea-brained so-called ‘macho’ types with their overlarge (or non-existent) exhaust systems on cars and motorbikes.
Residents and tourists alike are traumatised by the sheer menace of this increase, which continues non-stop from pre-dawn well into the small hours. How pedestrians from the apartment blocks and hotels dare to cross the road with their children, I do not know, and there is many a near-miss which will one day turn into an actual tragedy. A trio of speed humps have been laid within centimetres of each other outside the school at the junction with Agapinoros, but otherwise there is nothing to stop the onslaught of speeding traffic. Certainly not a police presence with their pretty little cameras!
Whether the municipality or the Mayor are aware of this problem I have no idea, but surely someone from the Traffic Planning Department should have foreseen what closing off the seafront would do to the inner roads of Kato Paphos? And why are they not concerned that the new dual carriageway, which they spent so much money building, is so little used, and failing to relieve the beleaguered people in the residential areas? Bad traffic planning and noise pollution is a nightmare in any country, the UK being no exception, but most countries try to find a solution to the problem, whereas here no one seems to care or accept responsibility. The old metaphorical shrug of the shoulders is about the only response you’re likely to get!
Anita Dye
Kato Paphos
