The death trap

Oct 19, 2010 Editorial

There is no end to the indiscipline that is claiming so many lives on the streets. A simple observation would reveal that most of these deaths occur at weekends. It is the same with the most violent of the crimes. The criminal knows that at the weekend his chances of escape are so much greater because of the crowded neighbourhoods and his ability to blend into the crowd.
But the road accidents are something that are preventable if only motorists observe the basic laws that require them to pay attention to signs, and to be of a certain conduct once they get behind the wheel of a vehicle.
Some blame alcohol madness and indeed most of the people who become involved in road accidents are found to be under the influence. On Friday one of them was so drunk that he failed to recognise that he was involved in an accident with a policeman. And when he was arrested he could not comprehend the situation.
At least three people died on the roads this past weekend. One of them was said to be the victim of a hit and run. He was riding along a public thoroughfare when a speeding vehicle struck him. His mangled body was picked up and taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital where he died.
Hours earlier there was another on the Lower East Coast Demerara. One more person died as a result of that accident. Then on Sunday a minibus ended up on its side after being hit by another vehicle. In fact, this was a case repeated many times during the week. In one case of a car and minibus collision the woman was the driver of the car and was said to be palpably wrong.
Yesterday, the sun had barely risen when there were other accidents in the city. Some people failed to observe the traffic signs. They are the ones who repeatedly skip major roads, ignore traffic lights and overtake regardless of how close an approaching vehicle is. They ignore the presence of people on the streets, regardless of whether these people are children or the elderly.
The police credited themselves with the drop in road fatalities in 2007. That year the lowest number of deaths was recorded in the country, even lower that the previous year which was considered a record-breaking year. Road fatalities had plummeted to their lowest level in nearly two decades.
They claimed that they had a grip on the situation. That grip has slipped to the point that the police may be holding nothing.
Over the past three years there has been an influx of vehicles. Normally, the country would go through a series in three to four years. Ever since 2008, Guyana had been selling about four vehicles per day. It is as if there is an economic boom.
With these vehicles come the increasing number of inexperienced drivers and with such drivers there is bound to be the increase in the number of accidents. For their part, the police would insist that they are teaching new drivers, but teaching is not enough. Young people are still prone to drunk driving and it goes without saying that they are the ones who would create the most havoc. They are the ones who race through the streets at great peril to the other road users.
The police can do much more given that they now have adequate patrol vehicles. They could randomly stop vehicles on the streets and if they suspect a drunk driver they can test him. Using that method they were able to recover numerous firearms and save lives. If they should adopt the same attitude then they would save lives on the streets.
These patrols should be increased at weekends, concentrating more in the vicinity of night clubs and drinking holes. The presence of parked cars outside such locations should be motivation enough for police action. But then again, the police may find other things to do, like chase after armed bandits whose numbers have been drastically reduced in the city.

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