State of the road worries villager

By Vatapuia Maiava 05 January 2017, 12:00AM

While driving down our roads you will occasionally run into very paranoid drivers who drive at 5km an hour to avoid damages from the bad state of the roads.

We have all been there and yes... it’s annoying.

But come to think of it, we will all be driving at a decent speed if the roads we drove on were up to standard. That’s the view of Ioane Fatu, from the village of Utuali’i.

According to the concerned citizen, the bad state of the roads is not only an annoyance, it’s also costly due to the car repairs and there is that danger of losing control of your car when hitting a pothole.

“One of the biggest issues that worries me right now is the state of our roads,” Ioane told the Village Voice.

“It’s not hard to notice that there is a big increase in vehicles entering our country but what’s the point when the roads are full of holes?

“When it starts to rain heavily then the state of the roads get worse and this worries me more and more. It’s definitely not good especially considering the prices of cars nowadays.”

Ioane says that with the road at his village being between the wharf, airport and town, it’s a concern for the villagers to get the roads fixed.

“Looking at the road on my village, I don’t think it’s up to the standard it should be,” he said.

“There are many cars driving to and from the wharf, airport and town so the roads need to be done up properly for the sake of everyone.

“For me personally, this issue should be one of the priorities because it costs the people so much money to fix up their cars which were ruined by the roads.”

And with Samoa entering a new year, Ioane says it’s time for the government to get some overdue work done.

“There are many things that the government should look at in 2017,” he said.

“We should just pray that the Lord will give them the wisdom to see it through this year. I mean, we are capable of so much here in Samoa.

“If you look at the road at Vaitele, it is very impressive but it would be great if it extended all the way out here to our villages.

“What they have done in Vaitele towards town should be continued because if we stop here and keep the rest of our roads in bad shape then I feel sorry for all the other vehicle owners.”

As mentioned before, Ioane says that there are risks that come with bad roads and we need to fix it before we lose a precious life.

“It is also a safety risk for many on the road,” he said.

“Some potholes we have now are big enough to make a driver lose control of the car and it would most likely cause an accident.

“If we lose a life to the bad state of the roads then that is a big waste of a life. We need to be careful and keep in mind that until we have better roads, there is still that danger.

“So my only message to Samoa is to keep safe on the roads especially while you are having a family trip this holiday season.”

By Vatapuia Maiava 05 January 2017, 12:00AM
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