Up to last Friday, the Guyana Police Force had recorded 109 deaths from 99 accidents for the year, representing a 21% increase in comparison with the same period last year. This announcement was made by acting Commissioner of Police David Ramnarine during a press conference at his office.
Ramnarine said that from January 1 to October 28 last year, there were 82 fatal accidents which resulted in 96 deaths.
He also reported that since the launch of Operation Safeway on September 15, 8,428 cases were made, with speeding accounting for 2,441 of them. He said 4,696 random breathalyser tests were done and 722 drivers were found to be over the legal limit of alcohol consumption. Significantly, he said of the 722 drivers found over the legal limit, 425 or almost 60% were drivers between the ages of 16 and 35. It was noted that 91% of the tests were conducted at nights.
He also reported that there were 2,016 cases for tinted vehicles, 96 cases for unlicensed drivers, 74 for use of cell phones while driving, 395 for failure to wear seat belts and 62 for failure to wear safety helmets.
“So we have young persons in crime, unemployed, driving under the influence and young persons who just don’t want to work for what they say is too meager a salary—factors we all need to be apprehensive of in the square of social stability,” Ramnarine said.
The Guyana National Road Safety Council, in collaboration with key partners, on Monday morning launched Road Safety Month, under the theme “Life does not have a reset button, drive carefully.”
