Several people have died on our roads this month. Speed bumps and traffic lights do not stop much of the road carnage. The roads should never be like abattoirs, but people have often ended up with their bodies strewn across them, dismembered like the butcher’s kill. Unfortunately, fatal vehicular accidents on Guyana’s roads are not uncommon and the hum from mourning the dead is constant.
I have never forgotten the first fatal accident I witnessed. I was on my way home from school in the mid-1990s. The image of the driver’s dead body hanging through the front of the bus is forever etched in my mind. It is a haunting memory that often surfaces, especially when accidents occur.
A cross planted along the Rupert Craig Highway was also a constant reminder that the actions of drivers often result in devastation. That cross was placed there in the memory of a teenaged girl, Alicea Goveia, who was struck down in 1996 by a driver who was allegedly drunk at the time. It was reported that the driver had a case pending for another person he had struck down and killed some years before.
Denise Dias, Alicea’s mother, started the Alicea Foundation (Mothers in Black). Mothers in Black for years protested outside Parliament and eventually through their lobbying road safety legislation, which included using seat belts, helmets, radar guns and breathalysers, was implemented.
Despite the progress that movements like Mothers in Black influenced, too often we continue to see fatal accidents. No one believes it will happen to them. The person who is inebriated and sits behind the wheel often believes that because they have done it before and made it safely to their destination then they always will. But often we have seen such drivers kill themselves and others.
When we sit in a speeding vehicle with drivers with god complexes, arrogance and impatience manage the wheel and put us at risk. And if it is us at the wheel being reckless and believing because of our driving skills it will never happen to us, history shows that some of best drivers have also died on the roads. Whether it is a private vehicle or public transport, to sit quietly while our feet are dangling over the grave and hoping to arrive safely with a prayer will not curb the frequency of road fatalities.
Earlier this week it was disturbing to see the pictures and videos of the lifeless body of a young Venezuelan woman, Alejandra Brazon. This accident occurred on Stewartville Public Road on the West Coast of Demerara. There is footage of the speeding car which then slammed into a pole and split in half. When arrogance and impatience manage the wheel, it is often too late before they realize they are in trouble.
There were videos and pictures of the lifeless body of the young woman which was placed on a horse cart. She would have never imagined that the day she got dressed and entered that car would be her last and her lifeless body would be placed on a horse cart. I suppose we are short of ambulances and hearses in Guyana.
On June 17th,, June Forde, who returned to Guyana for her mother’s funeral, died minutes after she was picked up by her son from the airport. The car her son was driving collided with a truck on the Huararuni Public Road, Soesdyke-Linden Highway.
On June 15th, there was an accident on Fort Wellington Public Road, West Coast Berbice. Those who died were Carlos Edwards Jr, Hookumchand Permanand and Shabana Latiff. The driver was speeding and lost control of the vehicle.
On June 8th, there was an accident at Dora Public Road, Soesdyke-Linden Highway and a mini-bus driver, Mark Ault, died. Three vehicles were involved in that accident. Besides all the deaths, there were several people also injured in those accidents and there were also other accidents.
With Guyana having such a small population, it is troubling that in one month so many people have been injured or died on our roads. It is also troubling that there are accidents every month.
At the launch of Road Safety Week last November, it was reported that there was a 37% increase in road fatalities. At that time, there had been 115 accidents resulting in 125 deaths for 2020, compared to 84 accidents in 2019, which resulted in 94 deaths.
It seems like the past is no lesson for reckless drivers. It is never pleasant to see the mangled bodies as a result of vehicular accidents. The culture of people gathering around the injured and the dead, filming and taking pictures, is also a disturbing trend. These images are often posted to social media and sometimes before relatives and friends of the deceased or the injured have been informed. The fascination with posting images and videos of the dead is one indication of the desensitization that has occurred over the decades in this country because of all the gruesome acts that are etched in many of our minds. Television, film and violent video games perhaps have also contributed to this.
Drinking and driving and speeding are the causes of most of Guyana’s vehicular accidents. Unlicensed drivers or drivers who illegally obtained their licences are also culprits.
The laws should always be enforced. The widely reported culture of people buying their licences needs to be investigated and stopped. Guyana is a country that forces some of its citizens to engage in illegal activities for an extra dollar. This is what drives this culture of folks being able to illegally obtain licences. The fact that this is talked about so commonly is troubling and an indication of how corrupt this society is.
Those law enforcement officers who take bribes need to stop. Here, again, I understand that most Guyanese are not paid a living wage, but when it comes to road safety it is the people’s wellbeing that should be prioritized. We, the citizens, must speak when the person at the wheel is choosing impatience and arrogance. Not because you arrived safely before means that arrogance and impatience will not one day cause you to be injured or die.
Imagine the speed of that car on the Stewartville Public Road that led to it being split into two. Drivers and citizens need to stop taking these risks. It is encouraging that people are being charged. It was reported that in 2019 approximately 42,266 people were charged for violating traffic regulations. Charges included drinking and driving, exceeding the speed limit, using cell phones, not wearing seatbelts and breaching traffic light signals. Still, we need to continue enforcing our laws, charge every person who offends and do not make it easy for people to commit traffic offences repeatedly.
We also need to pay our citizens living wages so that they do not engage in practices that jeopardize people’s safety on our roads.
Drivers, you are not invincible. It is never okay to drink and drive. It is never okay to use your mobile phones while driving. Obey the traffic signals. Wear your seatbelts. Speeding kills. Stop the road carnage.
