Following a rise in the number of road fatalities for the year, Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon recently said that government is considering more laws and the deployment of more police to monitor traffic.
Luncheon said that government had a subcommittee analysing the situation and it made several recommendations, much of which was agreed to by Cabinet.
He disclosed that among the recommendations is reforming legislation for traffic offences to make it easier to prosecute offenders and to increase both the range of infractions and also the penalties.
In addition, the subcommittee has recommended that there be additional traffic ranks and public awareness for road users.
“…Some of the thoughts included more police, more traffic ranks, increased presence on the roadway and greater enforcement of the traffic laws,” Luncheon said.
Luncheon added that the recommendation to have more ranks on the road comes from observations that after 4pm on weekdays Georgetown “is surrendered to the wiles of the drivers” as there are no ranks on the streets. He said too that when there are special occasions, the deployment is usually deemed inadequate. He also said there should be much more done for pedestrians, whom he called the significant “at-risk” population.
The Guyana Police Force recently reported an increase in deaths from fatal accidents for the period January 1 to October 31, 2014. Police said there were 113 road fatalities from 104 accidents, in comparison to 85 fatalities from 79 accidents for the same period in 2013. At the same time, the other categories of accidents—serious, minor and damage–have seen reductions, in comparison to same period last year.
The police stated that pedestrians have been the main road users affected, while speeding continues to be the major contributing factor to fatal accidents.
Traffic enforcement by the police has resulted in a total of 55,591 cases being made against errant motorists unto the end of September 2014; of this total, 15,350 cases were for speeding.
Last month, main opposition coalition APNU reiterated its call for stricter methods of enforcement of the laws and safer roads. While noting that speeding continues to be a major contributing factor in road fatalities, it called on the Guyana Police Force to put the necessary resources in place to ensure that there is adequate policing.
