Dear Editor,
I would greatly appreciate if you could print my letter questioning the malpractice of the Guyana Police Force, Traffic Department as it relates to the following:-
1. Is it legal to overtake on the inside on the Carifesta Avenue, dual carriageway (everyone does it including police)?
2. Is it really necessary for police to control traffic at the Kitty Roundabout in the mornings when there is only a trickle of traffic traveling east bound on Carifesta and turning right on to Vlissingen Rd?
3. Is it legal for traffic to move into the lane of oncoming traffic of the opposite lane forcing that lane to stop so as to avoid pot holes and other obstructions?
4. Is it legal for vehicles to park on both sides of narrow roads reducing traffic to a single lane?
5. Is it legal for traffic to park with their rear end sticking out (common practice) into the roadway?
6. Is it legal or courteous for traffic to overtake a vehicle giving way for another to come out of a parked position?
7. Isn’t it legal or courteous for vehicles to stop to allow another trying to come out of a parked position?
8. Is it legal for vehicles to flash an oncoming vehicle forcing it to slow down or stop so it can overtake an obstruction on their side of the road?
9. Is it legal or courteous for vehicles to continue flowing when it is clear that another is trying to come out of a parked position?
10. Is it courteous for traffic to travel at high-speed approaching junctions as they claim to have right-of-way?
11. Finally, why must everyone constantly try to overtake in a small city like Georgetown when little or no significant time will be saved?
I am sure that most of us already know the answers to all of the above yet they are all common occurrences. In addition to all of the above does the Police Traffic Department train their ranks to deal with these infringements instead of them stopping traffic for parking offences etc., for which they can give the unsuspecting driver a grim story of going to the station for more harassment to pay a fee and then going to court to pay a substantial fine instead of ticketing, all so that they can and mostly extract a bribe of no less than $5,000.
I disrespect any uniformed rank who stoop to such low unprofessional harassment of tax paying road users. Equally, road users should consider refusing to heel to these harassments. It is time that the GPF is investigated and made accountable, our country must make all effort to redeem itself from those masquerading as law enforcers.
Sincerely,
Bernard Ramsay
