Dear Editor,
In recent years a number of road users have lost their lives needlessly in Guyana-and the rate keeps increasing. According to the Home Affairs Ministry, as of February 2023, fatalities on Guyana’s roadways have increased by a 100 percent this year in comparison to the same period last year. It was also found that road fatalities occured mainly on Saturdays and Sundays, between 6 pm and 12 mid-night. Nothing much has been achieved since the National Assembly passed the Motor Vehicle and Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill on November 7, 2022, to promote and enforce safe driving while imposing much higher penalties for serious infractions. Such piecemeal programs will never work because about a quarter of drivers did not obtain their licenses through the regular process. The fact that the National Road Safety Council’s financial resources have been boosted from $3 million to more than $11 million, to aid in the sensitization and reduction of road accidents indicates a scenario of platitudes rather than progress. Some recent fatalities are horrific:
A BK Security Inc. Security Manager was on Monday (Aug.14) crushed to death after the vehicle he was driving crashed into a utility pole at Le Ressouvenir, East Coast Demerara (ECD); A three-vehicular accident along Montrose Public Road, East Coast Demerara (ECD) on Sunday night has claimed the lives of two 19-year-old men; Six persons escaped with minor injuries on Sunday night after a pick-up toppled several times along the St. Cuthbert’s Mission Access Trail. (Three children were on Sunday (Aug.13) killed in a boat accident in the vicinity of Masekenari Village, Region Nine); A 27-year-old man is presently battling for his life after he was struck down during the afternoon hours last Wednesday by a speeding car driven by a firefighter; Two security guards were detained by police at Mabaruma on Saturday after one of the men crashed a Regional Democratic Council (RDC) pick-up into a sports utility vehicle (SUV) which belongs to Opposition Member of Parliament, Ronald Cox; Four persons are dead following a two-vehicle crash at Craig, East Bank Demerara (EBD) on Monday night; Four persons, two men and two women were on Monday morning killed after the minibus they were in collided with a truck on the Greenwich Park Public Road, East Bank Essequibo (EBE).
As the country transforms into a high tech vehicle state the laws governing traffic infractions are, to say in modest terms, archaic and unfit and embraces a third world system of lopsidedness and holey enforcement regulations. Successive regimes with their hebetude-like approach to administration, have failed miserably to institute safeguards to curb the horrific numbers of road accidents that produce lifelong disfigurement and fatalities that are perpetrated on a hapless, hopeless populace at the receiving end of ultra-clumsy driving habits. The huge influx of vehicles over the past decade carries terrible downstream effects in a country where driving takes center stage against the backdrop of a highly underpaid police force, notwithstanding constant allegation of persons obtaining licenses under questionable and clandestine police conduct. The recent tragedy on the Craig (East Bank Demerara) road where 5 persons lost their lives involving a truck driver .No one should drive a commercial vehicle unless that person possesses 5 years minimum driving experience.
The courts have failed miserably in giving accident victims compensation and satisfaction, while allowing these drivers who actually commit murders-vehicular manslaughter- to leave the courts to once again enter the killing fields of Guyana’s roadways. Each year a new crop of drivers get behind the wheel. The most logical evaluation simply indicates that the excitement to drive precipitates careless road usage, while a huge preponderance of minibuses are driven by the younger stratus of society. I have long advocated, even corresponding with two former Home Affairs ministers, about the need for multi- level categories of license. Simply, one should not drive a commercial passenger vehicle without the necessary first aid training and HAZMAT testing.
The Guyana Police Force stated that the leading causes of traffic mishaps in the country are speeding and driving while under the influence of alcohol. Other major causes are driving while distracted by use of a cellphone, pedestrian inattentiveness, and failure to heed traffic signs and warnings. Road repairs, a seemingly perpetual dilemma, do not help either. Poor lighting, absence of road markings, tinting, distractive loud music, encroachment by beer & food sheds, piles of sand, rice drying etc. all compound the dangers of both drivers and pedestrians. Construc-tion materials, especially sand and brick, should never block any roadway, instead such materials ought to be transported in containers like polypropylene or jute bags (like rice) with fluorescent markings. By implementing heavy fines with a point system for violations and strict license suspensions, drivers would become more conscious of their responsibilities.
Speed cameras, enforcement of speed zones and more breathalyzer testing will greatly reduce accidents. Improved road conditions like better lighting, more signs, no hand held cellphone usage etc. will ensure safer conditions and alleviate the woes of meandering through the streets. It is truly mind-boggling to see officials driving yet cannot comprehend the urgency in fixing a simple pot hole. It is rather confusing that the Ministry of Works continue to receive most of the subventions allocated by Parliament for improved infrastructure yet accidents occur with increasing frequency ! Road manners are atrocious in the country especially in the manner of overtaking; the driver being overtaken does not ‘tuck in’ or slow down allowing this maneuver, instead many increase speed resulting in serious accidents.
Finally, do not ever believe that speeding minibuses facilitate those late for work. Guyanese are not known to act with any form of alacrity and promptness in any sphere of activity (except, perhaps, a date or meeting at the rum shop). Sadly, in the general lexicon of things, it seems obtaining a license to drive implies a license to kill. It is the new pandemic for One Guyana.
Sincerely,
Leyland Chitlall Roopnaraine
