Dear Editor,
Once again, a traffic fatality focuses the spotlight on the reality of what passes for law and justice in Guyana. Too often, it dehumanizes loss and suffering and renders impotent the reach of the law and the scales of justice. Regrettably, I sense controlled smirking and bleak comedy on the part of perpetrators in some of these harrowing circumstances. This one involves the death of a young child on the East Coast Demerara.
Reports are that a million dollars were offered as an out-of-court settlement. At first blush, it sounds like a considerable sum of money; even a fair and reasonable offer. But what can a million dollars Guyana cover in Guyana today? It may buy, at the low end, a house lot; serve as the down payment for a car; and perhaps feed and house a small family for a year at the maximum. A catastrophic illness would wipe out that million in quick time, as though it never existed. I can furnish more examples, but I think that this is enough. I will conveniently not speak of the pricelessness of promise or the value of lost earnings now all forever lost; or the price, if any, which could be attached to the raw emotions and ease the indescribable pain felt by the grieving. I apologize if I come across as too clinical here.
For when examined in isolation or in aggregate, a million is not so cool, so attractive anymore. In fact, it is insulting. It is downright insulting when onlookers speak of the involved vehicle speeding. All have witnessed, at some time or another, the chronic recklessness exhibited through the speeding that plagues and haunts. It is even more degrading when one thinks that for so many operating in the large dark side of economic endeavours in this society that a million (or ten) means nothing. It is sawdust and sno-cone play money for those trafficking, trucking, and tricking. Also, since so many locals have overseas-based relationships, financial help is usually quickly forthcoming; five thousand Uncle Sam will be found and dispatched to Guyana.
Editor, as can be gathered, I am saying that life is so cheap, so negotiable, and so meaningless that sharper harsher sanctions should be there, and they are not; that the continuing cavalier attitudes and practices, perilous all, are upheld by what is considered toothless and tame by violators; and that the penalties that pierce and compel reflection and remorse are neither present nor felt. Therefore, it is full speed ahead through the next red light, the next road menaced, the next traffic law ignored, and the next body broken. It as if the laws are there to incentivize the lawlessness that prevails; it as if these Band-aids of out-of-court settlements are condoned to perpetuate the uncontrolled and unpunished barbarisms and injustices that are the order of the regular day.
This was emphasized in the starkest terms by another news item (KN, September 16), which stated that there were 50,000 traffic cases recorded in the last 8 months. To repeat: 50,000 offences in the last 8 months, of which close to 14,000 were for speeding. This is frightening; all should be thankful that there are not more maiming injuries or deaths. It is worth drilling down behind those staggering numbers to reveal the magnitude of the pervasive perils. This (50,000 in 8 months) translates to roughly 6,000 per month, or 200 incidents per day. Given that the main thoroughfares from Linden to Skeldon struggle to encircle 200 miles of macadam, this means that there was a traffic case (offence) recorded for almost every mile of roadway in this country; that is one for speeding every three miles. At the risk of severe understatement, this is palpably lethal.
Furthermore, when allowance is made for the believed countless instances when off-the-books arrangements are executed to overlook, then the reality looks even more daunting, more dangerous for just being out of the house. This mental trampling, this societal gutting cannot be given any more passes, must not continue. This is where I stand. Laws must be made more punitive; tolerance for corrupt cops (and corrupting citizens) must be zero; out-of-court settlements must be outlawed. At the very least, those must not function as the sole determinants of what is acceptable, and what suffices for righting wrongs. The debt to society must still be paid, must be demanded. The interest and position of the state must not be relinquished at the sight and sound of money. There should still be a court case, with some penalties applied. Insurance companies ought to be an integral part of the compensatory regime; it must be adjacent to and complement private ones. When time, resources, and energies (all scarce) have to be expended, it is my belief that more pressure will be brought to bear to demand change. When interested parties are commanded to have a dog in the fight, then something gives. Otherwise, it is the slackness and ugliness that have been permitted to multiply and flourish.
This paying for a life, or buying a bargain, must cease. The indiscipline and criminality in everyday usage of roadways have to be slowed, checked, and disrupted. When a million (or five) can be tendered so casually, no lessons are learned. And the probability of continuing mayhem and carnage stays stubbornly high. There is no deterrence; there is no regard.
Yours faithfully,
GHK Lall
