The blatant disregard for the Highway Code and the lack of road courtesy have been the subject of countless Letters to the Editor and several editions of this column over the past few years. The current state of affairs can be summarised as approaching a crisis point as road carnage is becoming virtually a daily occurrence in our society.
A cursory glance at the headlines of news stories in this publication over the past nine days reveals the tip of the iceberg; “Corentyne crash leaves pensioner dead”, “Lorry driver on $300,000 station bail over death of school boy” (March 19); “Mabaruma school girl, 10, dies after struck by car”, “Mechanic succumbs after accident at Pritipaul Singh Investments” (March 20); “Bartica biker dies after crashing into bridge” (March 22); “Camp Street accident victim succumbs to injuries”, “De Willem man dies after run over by car” (March 24); “Hibernia man dies after losing control of motorbike” (March 25); “Security supervisor dies in motorbike accident”, “Biker dies at Wowetta”, “Teen biker dies after crashing into GPL post at Bushlot” (March 26).
One aspect of these attention grabbing headlines is the wide extent of the locations of these incidents: Georgetown; Corentyne and East Canje, Berbice; Mabaruma, North West District; Bartica; De Willem, West Coast Demerara; Hibernia, Essequibo Coast; and Wowetta, North Rupununi. This national problem is no longer confined to the capital or the Demerara coasts, where a large percentage of the vehicular population is based. In several instances, it was reported that one or more of the parties involved in the incidents were travelling at an excessive rate of speed. While it was not confirmed by the police reports, one suspects that alcohol is a factor in some instances, based on the timing of the incidents. Of worrying significance is the escalating number of road fatalities involving motorcyclists. Is this due to a lack of proper training, or excessive speeding, or a combination of both?
A quick read of the reports reveals that the Grim Reaper is not selective when it comes to race, age, or gender, everyone is fair game. Two ten-year-old schoolchildren, our most precious resource, youths, young adults, and a pensioner have been added to the rapidly growing list of road fatalities. When one bears in mind that it is not possible to report every fatality – some crashes, notably in rural areas, are not documented, while some victims succumb to their injuries at a later date – this situation does warrant cause for national concern.
It is quite easy to trot out a pile of statistics of road fatalities over the past years and point fingers at the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and successive governments for allowing the situation to blossom to this stage. Whilst they must shoulder some of the responsibility, we now appear to be confronting an ingrained cultural mentality, which, for the want of a better term, can best be labelled as ‘I-am-more-important-than-you-get-out-of-my-way’. This volatile cocktail of disrespectful (to fellow road users and the law), crass, and ignorant behaviour is purposefully demonstrated on a daily basis by the core group of minibus drivers, sand truck drivers and motorbike riders. Their ceaseless honking of horns, blatant disregard for lane driving and penchant for exceeding speed limits is a lethal combination which is going to be near impossible to eradicate from their kamikaze mindset. Why can’t this group conduct themselves in a civilised manner? What are the origins of this selfish behaviour?
A short hop to our Caricom neighbour Barbados exposes one to an entirely different approach to sharing the road. Its spider web network of narrow roads abutted by even narrower gaps (side streets) presents a real challenge for drivers, who, despite the limited space demonstrate a remarkable level of unprompted courtesy to each other. How come the road users on that small island, with far less tarmac to share can function on civil terms, and we can’t?
It is all well and good to have proper road signage, functioning traffic lights, road safety blitzes, increased police presence on the road, and national symposiums on the pending crisis, but until we adopt a firm approach to enforcing the full force of the law – heavy fines, long-term suspensions of driving licences and jail time for unlicenced drivers – we will just be as the adage goes “throwing water on duck back.” As long as traffic policemen are not earning a livable wage and susceptible to corruption, and many ‘connected’ members of the populace are allowed to commute unfettered at excessive speeds behind tinted windscreens and windows, this emerging road carnage epidemic will continue unabated.
Every time we venture out onto the roads now, we are participating in a game of Russian roulette. Ultimately it seems we are all heading nowhere very fast. Decent and law-abiding citizens will just have to continue to pull aside and let the horn blowing and speeding minibus drivers, sand truck drivers and motorcyclists have the road.
