The Guyana Police Force’s Traffic Department yesterday reported that an overall decrease in the number of fatal accidents and road fatalities has been recorded for the first nine months of the year.
Presenting statistics for the period January 1 to November 30, 2015, the department said its figures show that there were 95 fatal accidents, when compared with 121 for the same period last year, representing a 21% decrease.
It noted that there was a 14% decrease in deaths, reflecting 112 for the current period, when compared with the 130 recorded last year.
According to the department, 43 fatal accidents this year were caused by speeding; 32 were as a result of inattentiveness; 17 resulted from drunk driving; and one each as a result of failure to conform to signs, breach of traffic light signal and error of judgement. Pedestrians represented the highest number of road fatalities at 40, followed by 22 passengers in cars, 15 motorcyclists and 14 drivers, the department said.
It added that 35 fatalities occurred in ‘A’ Division from 34 accidents, followed by ‘B’ and ‘C’ divisions, with 28 deaths each resulting from 21 and 22 accidents, respectively.
It was stated too that there were 320 serious accidents when compared with the 341 for last year, representing a decrease of 20%. There were also a 3% decrease in minor accidents and a 4% increase in damage accidents. There were 639 damage accidents compared with the 616 for last year.
The department added that the traffic enforcement by the police has resulted in a total of 50,715 cases for this year being made against errant motorists at the end of November. Of the total figure, 21,576 cases were for speeding, 2,206 for driving under the influence of alcohol, 1,156 for the use of cell phone while driving and 2,046 for failing to wear seat belt.
As at December 13, four persons had lost their lives on the roads as a result of four accidents.
