Dear Editor,
The Guyana Police Force needs to stick with the new changes in managing the traffic on the East Bank. If all drivers follow the rules, chaos will be reduced. The Guyana Police Force has come in for some flak for the traffic arrangements last week on the East Bank of Demerara and while I am normally among those first to criticise, I can see the virtue in their modifications. Yesterday morning the traffic management was spot on and traffic moved smoothly.
We all know the obvious, the road network is too small for the number of vehicles that pour into it at rush hour. This problem is exacerbated by drivers who turn the two lanes, on either side of the roadways, into four and five-lane convergences. Line jumpers always trying to “bore” into the existing stream are the main cause for the delays and the major contributor to the bottlenecks. At several points the impatient road hogs “bore” into existing lines of traffic and cause unnecessary stoppages and restarts to the possible smooth flow of traffic. I have travelled on the East Bank Roadway for many years and yesterday morning when the traffic police were able to have a proper implementation of traffic control and lane jumpers were prevented from creating side lanes and parallel traffic streams; the flow was smooth and incident free. I have seen this before, once the extra lanes are removed the legitimate traffic lanes flow smoothly.
There are of course some traffic management issues to be addressed like the crossing of traffic at Gafoor’s junction, the exit from Alexander Village into Mandela Avenue and the absolute chaos that happens at the junction of Saffon and Broad streets (Guyana’s 10-lane junction).
In my opinion the efforts now being made are a step in the right direction. It is good to see the police force take measures to manage the inadequate road network. The public needs to get on board and embrace these changes, the lane jumpers will be unhappy but a smooth and steady flow will always work better for the majority. We must not pander to the needs of a few who only serve to breed chaos.
To the Guyana Police Force, keep up the work. I support you trying new tactics for better traffic flow, this is all we can do until we can get more roads.
Yours faithfully,
Ajay Baksh
