Dear Editor,
Mother’s Day is supposedly one of the most celebrated days for us to acknowledge and give thanks to the wonderful women who have influenced our lives. Unfortunately I know many ladies who were unable to enjoy this day as they should.
On Sunday I called one such Mother, not to wish her a Happy Mother’s Day but to offer on behalf of Mothers in Black our condolences on the recent loss of her 21-year-old daughter tragically killed on our roads. This Mum buried her beautiful daughter last Saturday.
Regardless of what the special occasion, families who have lost a loved one, particularly a healthy child or young adult will shed endless tears, question their beliefs, and in many cases feel guilty, when in fact they are not the ones to blame.
In Guyana we have persons behind a wheel who can barely read and write, yet they possess a driver’s licence. Speeding and drunk drivers are the main causes of death and injuries on our roads. Our judicial system lacks the personnel to expeditiously process the numerous cases that confront them daily. Traffic cases are postponed week after week, month after month, year after year. Who can really blame innocent victims, particularly poor families accepting a few dollars’ compensation when they realize that justice will never be served? Bail, particularly in traffic cases, can vary from $10,000 for a hit, kill and run to a charge of $25,000 for a minor collision.
My daughter was killed over fourteen years ago by an alleged drunken speeding driver. Like many, many others before and after Alicea, her killer remains at large. 99% of these cases have been dropped and forgotten.
Mother’s Day has passed, but to you thoughtless, drunken, speeding drivers please think twice before you go behind that steering wheel and press on the accelerator. Consider your loved ones; consider the many families who have lost and had their lives changed forever. Time does not heal! We have over time learnt to conceal our pain.
Stop speeding, and make your vehicle a no-phone zone.
Yours faithfully,
Denise Dias
The Alicea Foundation/Mothersin Black
