Not withstanding my age, I suppose I have to thank my parents or nature or the powers that be for my undying ability to be surprised by life in T&T. It turns out that there is something called "lighting-up hours" in T&T. In Friday's paper I saw a notice from the now under attack and under-appreciated Commissioner of Police informing us that there are "lighting-up hours for motor vehicles and other vehicles" for the months of October, November and December. In case no one else has seen it, I'll have you know that as of October 1 to 15, the "lighting-up hour" is 6.21 pm but from October 16 to the 31, it's 6.14 pm. However, for November the "lighting-up hour" is always 6.09 pm and then it changes back in December but you will have to check it out yourself, you have enough time.
I have been driving for 32 years in T&T and have never heard of anything like this. It certainly was not part of those archaic laws I had to study to get my driver's permit in 1977, one of the only two exams I ever failed, having, in my rush, wrongly learned the answers to two questions. That caused the gentleman sitting next to me at the table where we took the written test and who had eagerly whispered to me, "Boss, boss, turn yuh paper dis way, nuh" and then proceeded to copy all my answers, to watch me in dismay at the end and say, "Buh how yuh cud do we dat, boss?" I've always been fascinated by the reluctance of Trini drivers to turn on their car lights. It's common to see cars driving along the highway at dusk at speed, with visibility limited to 50 or 60 yards.
I once asked a taxi-driver why. His long, convoluted and thoroughly confusing answer, typical Trinidadianese, had something to do with battery life. Apparently he believed that the car's battery lasts longer if you didn't turn the lights on. Might as well not ever turn the car on. It last longer. So in principle this notice might be a step in the right direction. The problem is, how are you going to get Trini to do it? Despite the high-profile case of Mayor Nagessar from the Chaguanas area, every woman on the Cocorite highway daily breaks the law against talking on a cellphone while driving. But then they can multi-task, no? Or are the police in the West more liberal with their interpretation of the cellphone car law?
Is the "lighting-up" notice the law? If so, who sets these absurd changing times? What are they related to? Sunset? The time the street lights come on? What happens if it rains and gets darker sooner? How is anyone supposed to remember them? 6.13 today. 6.20 tomorrow. It's as if the curfew time would change from day to day, month to month, and that might just happen. What about if you turn your lights on before the stipulated time? Drive with your court clothes? To make matters more intriguing, the notice carries something called AM "lighting-up hours." Should it be not be "lighting-down hours"? Does this refer to cars or homes? Are we to be prosecuted for not putting on the lights in our houses at a certain time? Is this another manifestation of the state of emergency?
But what really going on? Then on Saturday we learned about the visionary ticketing of a disabled man in a wheelchair by an alert policeman with nothing to do but harass working people because he parked in the spot reserved for him on the compound of the National Library, something he had been doing for the past two months. Sudhir Ramessar, who lost the use of his legs when he was an infant and drives a specially modified car, using only his hands, was apparently charged with driving his vehicle "on a pavement or footpath" while driving through the entrance to the parking area.
As he was getting out of the car to get into his wheelchair, which a fellow worker had got out of the trunk, he was accosted by the policeman and told he could not park in that parking lot because it was "reserved for a wheelchair." You see, it had the image of a wheelchair painted on the ground, so only wheelchairs could park there. As we know only too well, there are dozens of people driving wheelchairs around town looking for a place to park. I hope the various disability organisations come together on this one and support Mr Ramessar when he goes to court. We have not yet learned the power of groups of concerned citizens who soberly and intelligently band together to defend civil liberties.
In the case of people with disabilities, that is even more important. The rights of disabled people continue to be routinely trampled upon by officialdom and the only time anyone ever noticed their plight and did anything to help them was when the late George Daniel tied his wheelchair to a fence on Wrightson Road and blocked traffic. Every movement needs to call attention to itself by bold action.
THOUGHTS
• I've always been fascinated by the reluctance of drivers to turn on their car lights.
• Are police in the West more liberal with their interpretation of cellphone car law?
• The rights of disabled people continue to be routinely trampled upon.