Mobile phones enter war against traffic cops

Jan 31, 2009 News

In light of the new traffic campaign launched by the police, minibus operators on the West Coast of Demerara have resorted to using technology to avoid being caught speeding, overloading their minibuses, and a variety of other offences.
These minibus operators make use of their cellular phones to call and Short Message System (SMS) to warn other operators travelling in the opposite direction, and to find out where the police are. Oftentimes, the police will hide and wait for unsuspecting motorists and minibus operators, catching them with their radar guns for speeding.
The police also stop minibuses and charge in cases of overloading.
Passengers often find the whole scenario quite humorous, with some even volunteering to allow the operators to use their mobile phones to make these calls to the other operators.
One of the operators who spoke to Kaieteur News said that they (operators) had begun to use their mobile phones because of the increased police presence on the road. “There are more police ranks on the road, so it makes it harder for us to take overloads. So we call each other and help each other out,” said the minibus driver.
He added that many minibuses were stopped for speeding, since many of the traffic ranks were now armed with their radar guns.
“They got new ways of stopping us now, so we had to get new ways of evading them,” he said.
Meanwhile, a police source explained that minibus operators would help each other, and look forward to help in return. “Some of the minibus drivers are so brazen,” said the source. “They know that we (police) are on the road, and they will still speed and carry an overload.”
He said that the police are going to continue in their fight to curb speeding and make the roadways safer.
There has been an ongoing battle between minibus operators and the police, because most minibuses speed and carry more persons that they are registered to.
Operators have said that they need to ferry overloads because the minibus fares are just too low, and they cannot make a respectable living without carrying overloads.
More so, operators on almost every minibus route have said that if they obeyed the speed limit, they would never reach their destinations.
This particular sentiment has been echoed by taxi drivers and other motorists all over the country.

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Mobile phones enter war against traffic cops

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