I’m so sorry to hear about this tragic loss of life in Antigua, my heart goes out to the people close to Mr. Clarke.
In my visits there I have been concerned about the safety of pedestrians and noticed the lack of sidewalks and bicycle paths.
Despite that my wife and I enjoyed many days touring parts of the island on foot, with the assistance of the public bus network which was a pleasure. We explored extensively by foot for a few weeks from our base in Jolly Harbour and didn’t see any other tourists doing the same, too bad for them but I can see why. On another trip we walked long distances around the Five Islands area where the Inspector was killed. The obvious dangers are a symptom of the bigger problem of the lack of support for a walking (and cycling) culture that should be thriving. I’m sure that most folks would agree that the island would benefit in many ways from the development of alternative transportation pathways. Starting from scratch this is a daunting task, involving a lot of money and a lot of hassle to make room and change things around at ground level.

In the city where I’m from, Calgary in Canada, a “bike path” network was started in 1967 as a centennial project, beginning as a recreational thing and continuing to evolve now also as an important factor in transportation. The development of electric bikes and daily commutes in winter wasn’t anticipated by us as kids. We wheeled down the path by a creek through a new park, developed in a gully that people had dumped their garbage into, knowing it was just a start but having no idea how far it would go.
Calgary is divided roughly into quarters, by the Bow River flowing west from the mountains into the flat lands to the east and by Centre Street and other geographical features which run north/south. I’m from NW Calgary, a sprawling urban area about the same size as Antigua. The available space in Calgary may be a big advantage but winter certainly isn’t. I would bet that any pathway initiative in Antigua could find assistance there and in Edmonton, from transportation planners to mountain bikers into eco-tourism. WestJet is based in Calgary, there’s a vested interest for you. Bicycle tourism is real, who is known as the cycling destination in the Caribbean? How’s that view from the top of Mount Obama? How do we mitigate the erosion from those crazies on their way back down?
I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to write an essay but Antigua is great and I don’t want to see it taken over by rental cars like on Maui.
(When Joni Mitchell wrote “They paved paradise, put up a parking lot…” she was talking about Hawaii)
Many years ago there was a horrible collision on the highway just west of Calgary, a car veered into a group of cyclists on a pleasure ride and several of them were killed. A local man who had the misfortune of witnessing the carnage went on to spearhead the establishment of the Trans Canada Trail, to separate walkers and cyclists from high speed motorized transport.
It took a lot of people many years but that trail is a reality and it’s history holds valuable lessons for us as we consider de-throning the automobile and diversifying transportation for all kinds of reasons. Primarily a person should be able to walk safely to where they want to go, but electric bicycles and stand-up scooters are now a part of the revolutionary picture. This won’t be simple but it should be quite fun to implement! Our dedicated paths range from single track dirt to paved with lines painted down the middle. Existing streets with portions being marked for bikes only have been controversial of course. It’s not a panacea, an elderly man was knocked down and killed by a bicycle (rider) a few years ago on a busy downtown park pathway. (that pathway is now doubled and divided) But vehicle/pedestrian death is still a regular occurrence on our streets and we mostly just put up with it.
Ask your kids what they think, we are talking about the future and here it is. As kids our lives were transformed for the better as the expanding pathways gave us mobility and freedom while allowing peace of mind for our parents.
Thank you for allowing me to vent after reading about the distressing loss of Inspector Clarke. Walk on!
-Doug, Winlaw, BC, Canada