Less money on lights, more on lighting

Year on year, the Paphos Municipality outdoes itself with the splendid glitter of Christmas decorations, silver Christmas trees and coloured lights bringing the message to us of both the birth of Christ and the production of wallets and purses to purchase presents for friends and family, which, of course, boost the local economy.
No doubt at this time of year there will also be sad memories of those who are no longer with us. Those who fell foul to the drunken driver who mounted the pavement, or the one who carelessly drove  across a zebra crossing, or the one who was rushing to a party and lost control of his vehicle – the stories and heartaches are numerous.
There is no doubt that the pedestrian in Paphos is more vulnerable than ever to the increasing number of vehicles on the roads. There are of course zebra crossings with belisha beacons which should flash to warn motorists – but believe it or not none of them work. There are often cars parked right up to the access and egress of the zebra crossings on both sides of the road often masking pedestrians attempting to cross.
Perhaps it would be more beneficial to mankind if the Municipality cut back on its decoration budget and maintained the belisha beacons instead and the traffic police and wardens enforced the no-parking areas approaching these crossings so that amongst the glitter of lights and signs and illegal parking, both motorists and pedestrians have a reasonable chance of arriving home with their Christmas shopping alive and uninjured.
 
Geoff Unsworth,
Paphos

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