Will we ever learn?

Jun 24, 2010 Letters

Dear Editor,
The body count on our roadways continues to grow astronomically. The authorities are always seen frequently on the roadways with their radar guns and ticket books; things go well for the time, but when the cover of darkness encroach the land, more lives are lost.
It is indeed sad to know that Guyanese are not learning from past examples and instances of road deaths. Many of those examples have been caused by excessive speeding, racing, drunken drivers, poor lighting on our roadways, inclement weather, and stray animals.
Notice I put stray animals at the end of that statement because as opposed to what many may believe or say, stray animals on our roadways is no excuse for an accident to occur.
Yes, the police and Ministry of Home Affairs ought to do more to rid the roadways of stray cattle and other animals which roam the roads day and night. Some of these animals lay still on roadways in pitch darkness and stand at a still in pouring rain, in the middle of the roadways.
Stray- catching laws have been enforced in the National Assembly but to this point I am yet to see the law at work on our roadways. The rural roadways are a haven for stray animals. Just this past weekend, two lives were lost, and they blamed it on stray cattle despite other assertions and theories.
I am saying that we cannot blame the animals for our mistakes. Animals will be animals. They cannot speak nor do they have the one thing which we human beings have: intelligence.
Why then can’t we exercise that better judgment we have over the bovine and other members of the animal kingdom on the roads ever so often? Human beings are intelligent creatures. Why do we have to drive over our limits and then get annoyed and vexed when we cannot seem to slow down when we come face-to-face with a cow or donkey?
How can we slow down in time if we are driving, or even racing with other cars on the roads?
The police need to be more vigilant. Drivers know too well when they are on the roads during the day. Surely, the police cannot be on every stretch of road in Guyana every hour of the day, but a heightened presence at sporadic times of the day and night will out our drivers and motorists on notice. Police presence on our roadways at nights is essential to stop the speeding, especially on weekends. These drivers do not only put their own lives in danger but pedestrians and cyclists as well! When will rural roads have lights? The #19 road, the longest straight-road in the Caribbean, needs some lights, as well as the Corentyne highway.
And so, just as darkness came over the land, and the police radar guns were put down (to sleep for the weekend), and while the traffic cops were otherwise engaged being it’s weekend and all, a few persons made very poor choices which left themselves and others dead and injured, and their families torn to pieces. Will we ever learn?
Leon Jameson Suseran

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