Dear Editor,

The body count on our roadways continues to grow astronomically. The authorities are seen frequently on the roads with their radar guns and ticket books; things go well for the time, but when darkness encroaches, more lives are lost. It is indeed sad to know that Guyanese are not learning from past examples of road deaths. Many of those examples have been caused by excessive speeding, racing, drunken drivers, poor lighting on our roadways, inclement weather, and stray animals. Notice I put stray animals at the end of that statement, because as opposed to what many may believe or say, stray animals are no excuse for an accident.

Yes, the police and Ministry of Home Affairs ought to do more to rid the roadways of stray cattle and other animals which roam the roads day and night. Some of these animals lie still on the roads in pitch darkness and stand still in the pouring rain in the middle of the roadways. Stray-catching laws have been reinforced in the National Assembly but up to this point I am yet to see the law at work. The rural roadways are a haven for stray animals. Just this past weekend, two lives were lost, something which was blamed on stray cattle despite other assertions and theories.

I am saying that we cannot blame the animals for our mistakes. Animals will be animals. They cannot speak nor do they have the one thing which we human beings have: intelligence.  Why then can’t we exercise that better judgement in relation to the bovine and other members of the animal kingdom where the roads are concerned? Why do we have to drive over our limit and then get annoyed and vexed when we cannot seem to slow down when we come face-to-face with a cow or a donkey? How can we slow down in time if we are racing with other cars on the road?

The police need to be more vigilant. Drivers know too well when they are on the road during the day.  Surely, the police cannot be on every stretch of road in Guyana at every hour of the day, but a heightened presence sporadically during the day and night will put our drivers and motorists on notice. A police presence on our roadways at night and especially at weekends is essential to stop the speeding. These drivers not only put their own lives in danger but those of pedestrians and cyclists as well. When will rural roads have lights? The No 19 road, the longest straight road in the Caribbean, needs some lights, as well as the Corentyne Highway.

And so, just as darkness came over the land, and the police radar guns were put down to sleep for the weekend, and while the traffic cops were otherwise engaged, a few persons made very poor choices which left themselves and others dead and injured, and their families torn to pieces.  Will we ever learn?

Yours faithfully,
Leon Jameson Suseran