Latest update November 23rd, 2024 1:00 AM
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Berbician killed in car/truck collision
Dead: Alvin Goodman
NEW AMSTERDAM, BERBICE – Assistant Police Commissioner Clinton Conway, who heads Division ‘B’ of the Guyana Police Force, has cited the zero tolerance operation for the decrease in road fatality figures for this year in Division ‘B’ of the Guyana Police Force.
However, statistics show that most of the fatalities occur at nights, when the police presence is reduced. Another factor is that the radar equipment is not effective at nights, and drivers know this and indulge in more speeding and more imbibing.
The latest life to be lost on the roadway in Berbice was that of Alvin Goodman, a 45-year-old man of Lot 30 Stanleytown, New Amsterdam. He was an occupant in a car travelling to the Rosignol Ferry Stelling on Sunday when the accident occurred on the Kingelly Public Road, West Coast Berbice.
The other occupants of the car, Dhanesh Rasram and Gangadai Chu, both of Bush Lot Village on the Corentyne, and the driver, Bevon Raman of Lot 298 East Ruimveldt, have been transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where they are said to be in critical condition.
According to police reports, at about 17:45 hours on Sunday, motor vehicle H 5587 was proceeding east along the Kingelly Public Road, West Coast Berbice, when it collided with a motor lorry, GEE 302, that was reversing across the road.
At the time of the incident, the lorry was said to be driven by Robert Marques of Kingelly Village. He is in custody.
Goodman’s relatives are still trying to come to grips with the news of his death.
Claudine Goodman-Mickle, of 38 Stanleytown, sister of the now dead Alvin, said that she last saw her brother alive at about just after 04:00 hrs. At that time he was on his way to the airport, and had left his home to get the first ferry. “He was going to meet a friend at the airport. We were in church the (Sunday) night, me and my two other sisters, when we got the message.
“My niece come and told me that my sister calling me outside. When I got outside, I saw his two friends. They said that Alvin meet up in an accident and they said that they did not know how to put it over but he dead. I start hollering.”
The family later learnt that the man’s documents were with police ranks. “The police on the scene took his phone, his identification card and wallet off him and kept it. So we called his number and the police answered his phone and related to us what happened. But that was night time, and we had to wait until morning.”
The family members went to the Weldaad Police Station, West Coast Berbice, just after 06:00 hours yesterday. “When we got to the Weldaad Station we saw the car. It was badly damaged; and then we talked to the police that had the documents. We then went to the Fort Wellington Hospital mortuary to see the body. He was in the ice box and so we just see his face alone. His face was badly damaged, he had severe head injuries.”
More information surfaced while they were on West Coast Berbice. “We heard that the truck was reversing out of some yard…We heard that an 11-year-old child was reversing the truck out of some yard, and after the accident the child jumped out of the truck and the child’s father jumped in the driver’s seat.
That is what the people who were around and saw told us. The car fit under the truck and the whole front smashed in. That is how he died. At the time was three or two persons in the back seat and my brother was in the front seat along with the driver.”
Goodman was employed as a bartender at Soy-Inn Restaurant in New Amsterdam. He is survived by a 22-year-old son.
Commander Conway said that, to date, 18 lives have been lost on the roads, while for the corresponding period in 2007, the figure was 29.
This year, six pedestrians lost their lives on the Berbice roadways, along with two occupants of vehicles, three pedal cyclists, four motor cyclists, one driver and two pillion riders. (Melissa Johnson)
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