The macabre results of Guyana’s vehicular accidents have created enough trauma to impact a few generations. If only we could chant and reverse the road carnage. Many people pray for safe travels. Still many choose to speed, to remain silent as their drivers’ speed or are convinced that they are capable of safe driving while inebriated. Reckless drivers may imagine that they are invincible but their belief that they are gods at the wheel is often an illusion and because of their foolish actions, the list of the dead continues to grow.
The time that road accidents in Guyana should have been decreased or become rare has long passed. Many of us have sat and watched our relatives, friends and fellow citizens die. Many of us have chosen to mainly sound our voices in the midst of tragedy, but on the whole continue to be tolerant of ignorance while we continue to bury our dead.
Many of our accidents could be avoided or would not result in as much devastation if there were more caution, care, courtesy, consideration and common sense. But impatience guides the actions of many of Guyana’s drivers. The screaming horns are often a reflection of their states of mind. Greed also induces recklessness, especially in many minibus drivers and we have been paying with the blood of our citizens over and over again.
Some of us may not be directly affected by the accidents but we too also suffer. In this era of mobile phones with cameras and social media, one does not have to be present at the scene of an accident to bear witness to the scenes of mangled bodies lying in pools of blood in the grass, on the road or between the remnants of the vehicles. Often, they are sent, unsolicited, to our inboxes. It is customary now for eyewitnesses to share disturbing images; for pictures and videos to be recorded while victims are moaning and dying. There is no respect for the dead or their relatives. There is no thought for children whose dreams may be filled with bloody and contorted figures after seeing such images. At thirteen, on my way home from school one afternoon, I saw the results of a vehicular accident on the Rupert Craig Highway. The body of the driver hung through the front of the bus and his head was split like a calabash and his brains were splattered like the entrails of a butcher’s kill. I remember the many restless nights thereafter and the scene still haunts me today. That was in the 1990s and more than 20 years later, we are still witnessing such accidents.
The most recent chapter in Guyana’s book of trauma was written last Wednesday on the Mahaicony Public road. A speeding minibus suffered a blowout and crashed into a truck and the number of dead are five, including a pregnant woman.
Witnesses filmed. People dead and those about to die were captured on camera. It is disturbing to know that people are comfortable participating in such actions. They are not filmmakers, but a flock of desensitised beings who are perhaps also victims of trauma.
Guyana’s road carnage episodes are anything but film or television productions. If we drive recklessly or sit quietly while others drive recklessly, we can become victims in this endless drama of trauma.
The recent episode, which in a perfect world would be last episode, resulted in many responses. One Christian religious fanatic took to his social media page to declare that there was a spiritual warfare on Guyana that was contributing to the accidents. An image he used indicated that he was laying the blame on those of the Hindu faith. Hindus were offended and eventually the post was deleted, and an apology was attempted. I never really believe apologies are genuine when it is outrage that prompts the offender to apologise. Often in such circumstances what was initially expressed are the genuine thoughts or beliefs of the individual.
The outrage called for minibuses to be banned. It is not just minibuses that are being involved in major accidents. Many private vehicles have also been involved. Minibuses, however, serve the general public and the apparent lawlessness seen in the operations is prevalent. Minibus operators are some of the most arrogant members of our society. They continue to break laws by speeding, drinking while driving, overloading and turning their buses into dancehalls on wheels and it is allowed to continue.
It is time for a long-term solution for public transport. While all Guyana’s citizens deserve the right to work and earn including Guyana’s minibus operators, people also deserve the right to safety; their prayers should not be all they rely on to make it to their destination.
But the citizens are also at fault. Just last week a friend was telling me that on a rainy day, she was in a bus, the driver proceeded to speed and upon requesting that he slow down, the other passengers reprimanded her. This is not a new occurrence, but one would think that she would have gotten their support, especially in light of the recent spate of accidents, but the morons in our society often appear to be the majority.
The citizens who rely on minibuses must start a movement to hold drivers and conductors accountable. They need you to travel in their minibuses to make money and if enough people demand safe road practices or threaten to boycott, they will have no choice but to comply.
The police must enforce the laws always. Those who operate minibuses should be evaluated. The process to gain permission to operate a minibus should be thorough. All drivers must think like the driver who is driving for the first day. They must act with caution and let the fear of blood on their hands motivate them to drive with care.
While we call for the banning of minibuses another system of transport has to be put in place. Many people have no choice but to use the minibuses. Many have called for the return of the big buses.
The ideas are not new. Time and time again we have heard them, and still…
