Dear Editor,
After reading about the accident that killed seven-year-old Felesha Persaud, I decided to pen this letter. I have three children, the eldest being a seven-year-old girl, and my wife and I try our best to avoid having her and her siblings on the public road, although some things can’t be avoided. Her school is in a village far away and we would take her to the school and pick her up, but in some cases her aunt would drop her off whilst passing us, and we ensure one of us is there before she arrives so that she wouldn’t have to cross the road alone. Lots of minibus operators are late and cannot spend an extra minute to take a child across or inquire if he/she has to cross the road and assist them. We always remind our daughter not to cross the road alone or play on it if we can’t make it, and not to ask someone to take her across. Why a seven-year-old girl is on the public road by herself is a question that should be asked.
Editor, as a small boy growing up, I was always advised not to talk to strangers and to date lots of parents are still practising that because they are not advising them properly; it is dangerous. Lots of times I would see small children on the road attempting to cross; some would answer and allow me to guide them across and some of them would simply look at me and look away and it makes me feel stupid for asking. Why aren’t parents advising their children to wait until someone comes and asks for assistance in crossing a public road? It is high time we stopped with that way of thinking; if you are training your children not to talk to strangers, don’t make them be where their life is at risk by themselves.
There are many pedestrian crossings but lots of children don’t use them, and their parents are not training them to use them. In some cases, motorists always seem to be in a hurry; they are not aware that a pedestrian crossing exists at certain points, and there is no sign informing them of its presence or the purpose of it and what they should do as drivers. It is no secret that lots of drivers ‘buy’ their licence (by the way, could the Commissioner of the Guyana Police Force give us an update on the investigation involving the officer who was transferred to the Sparendaam Police Station with regard to the dishonest practice of issuing licences at Leonora Station?) and they can hardly read, so reading the road signs might be a hard thing for them. Minibuses and taxis seem to be more late than anyone else and they hardly pay regard to road signs. Their errant attitude causes a lot of accidents and the lack of evidence allows them to escape justice.
There are many of cases where vehicles are parked on the road and when someone wants to cross, they go behind or in front of the parked vehicle and rush to cross, when neither they nor an approaching vehicle can see until it’s too late. Why can’t they just wait until the vehicle moves or go a little distance away from the vehicle where they could see in both directions clearly to cross?
Yours faithfully,
Sahadeo Bates
