Dear Editor,
As is normal, every time someone is put to head our traffic department in Guyana, the media would get interviews from that person about their vision and way they plan to enhance the department. The present acting Traffic Chief, Superintendent Boodnarine Persaud, is no different, and his statement about going after police officers with tinted vehicles drew my attention, and I am looking on to see if indeed he has what it takes to go after them or just selected (junior) officers or he is just ‘tooting his horn.’ Despite the introduction of the tint laws, many police men/women still have some of the darkest tinted vehicles, which are even worse than the vehicles of our lawmakers. I recall Director of Sports Christopher Jones, at that time a member of Parliament, had to strip his vehicle of tint by officers who stopped him.
On the West Coast of Demerara and East Bank Essequibo there are many officers with heavily tinted vehicles, and I am looking to see if these will be stripped or if they will cease using their tinted vehicles until the storm has passed and then resume using them again.
Whilst his statement is impressive, there are still problems affecting our roadways and the carnage continues, and I didn’t hear about any plan to remedy those situations. For instance, the hospital park (Route 45) at Stabroek Market is always in confusion, and traffic always seems to be blocked there by minibuses which don’t want to abide by the rules and join the lines. On Tuesday gone, although the vendors have been removed from the area, minibuses were still blocking the traffic and other motorists had to continuously blow their horns to get past. Previous traffic chiefs tried, and the media are always bombarded with complaints and letters about that area, but there have been no solutions.
Editor, I was in high praise of the traffic department when the roadways were permeated with officers using radar guns and carrying out random breath analyser tests, because then the lawlessness and roadways killings declined. I’m urging the acting Traffic Chief to resume this practice, because last Friday at Parika I noticed an ex-officer who is now operating a route 32 minibus with loud music and a tint picking up passengers, and at one stop I noticed him drinking Guiness whilst he was driving. Passengers are scared to make complaints, and if you are looking for a traffic rank on the roadways, they are not around at certain times. From what I’ve heard this is a regular practice for this driver, and because he’s an ex-officer his former colleagues turn a blind eyes to his actions.
For me it’s alright when someone who causes an accident gets charged, but I still don’t have confidence that the perpetrator will pay his due because of the way our legal system runs (missing case jackets, bribery, slothfulness, witnesses tired of going to court, etc). Meanwhile, innocent lives are lost or people are seriously maimed. I prefer to see lives saved instead.
Yours faithfully,
Sahadeo Bates
