Police Commissioner warns bus drivers

Police Commissioner Matthew Varley has sternly warn bus drivers in Honiara to observe traffic rules and avoid clogging the bus lane at the Honiara Central Market.

This comes after months of traffic congestion along the Point Cruz highway where people blame public buses for parking longer than necessary at the Central Market bus bay, resulting in the traffic gridlock affecting the city’s movements.

Commissioner Varley said he had seen some buses parked at the Central Market without a driver sitting in the front.

He said some drivers were deliberately disobeying traffic officers and he had instructed his officers to continuously monitor the Central Market bus lane.

“What its doing is clogging up the eastern and western lanes as you come into that part of the city,” he said.

“Obviously there’s a lot of concerns in the community about this, quite frankly this is the responsibility of the bus drivers, the bus association and the transport industry to take this matter seriously.”

Mr Varley also said bus operators and passengers must observe traffic rules and report drivers who disobey the law.

He said he understood the buses need to get their passengers, but they must do it in a way that does not disadvantage and other road users.

“My warning to the bus operatores is that the bus lanes are there for drop offs and pickups, not for parking and choking the city