Dear Editor,
The roadways of Guyana have become ‘killing fields’. They have been killing fields for the last 20 years. In the years 1996-2000 minibuses would have tyre blowouts and as many as 10 passengers would be seriously injured or die. So the vast majority of these accidents cannot be due to drivers buying their licences.
Speeding is the major cause. Too many motorists across the board are speeding. There are no highways in the country. All the roads in Guyana, frankly, are village roads. There are houses on both sides of the road. Horses, cows, dray-carts, buses, cars, container trucks, bicyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians all use the same road. So if you drive at 60 mph you are really trying to commit suicide. Look at the wreck of the vehicles in the Essequibo Road crash, and you will get an idea of the speed at which those vehicles must have been travelling.
In the whole of NYC, the speed limit is now 25 mph. And, you have to comply, or else.
If Minister Ramjattan cannot figure out how to cut the road carnage rate by 75% in 12 months, he shouldn’t be doing that job. He should resign. Too many people are dying on our roadways. It is Minister Ramjattan’s responsibility to save lives by seeing laws are passed to impose discipline on our nation’s motorists, just as Mayor di Blasio has done on the motorists in NYC.
Yours faithfully,
Mike Persaud
