Bringing sanity to our roads

Aug 14, 2011 AFC Column, Features / Columnists

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By Gerhard Ramsaroop

The AFC welcomes the introduction of traffic wardens by the Government to help curb the chaos on our roads.  However, given how far the situation has been allowed to deteriorate today, this measure will not prove adequate.  Not by a far stretch.  This is especially so, because the proposed salary for the wardens is on par with the woefully inadequate starting salary of police officers – a mere $45,000 take home per month.
The deployment of traffic wardens will still see a number of issues unresolved: alcohol and drug abuse by drivers, lack of street-lighting, stray animals, bribery, the ownership of some minibuses by members of the Guyana Police Force, the absence of regular traffic education for school-children and adults, lack of storage-lanes on some highways, worn out and defective tyres on mini-buses, badly demarcated lanes on roads, inferior road paint, poor signage, and corruption in the issuance of drivers licences.
The AFC notes that the working people of Guyana bear the brunt of the chaos on our roadways.  These are the people who least can afford to bury their dead, and take care of maimed and crippled relatives long after the accidents have been forgotten.  The AFC decries the lack of care shown by this Government, which instead of jumping to action, spouts statistics, saying road deaths were down by 17.4% since 2007, despite them knowing fully well that we have an increase of 12.7% over the same period last year (end of July).
This Government has the money to deal with the situation, but clearly, not the will.  There is an increase in the earnings from VAT by some 8 billion dollars over what was earned in 2007, only four years ago.  Even before then, the Government had 168 million dollars to give to Buddy’s for the Cricket World Cup.  And today, the Government has 1.8 billion dollars to spend on laptops.  It has 2.8 billion dollars to put into the Marriott project.  It has 10 million dollars to pay advisors at OP per year, not to mention the millions it spends on entertainment such as Feminition and at the recent Building Expo.  And it has 36 million dollars yearly, to pay for the President’s pension when he demits office.
But this Government has a poor record of taking care of the most vulnerable.  For example, the AFC has provided evidence of around 17,000 phantom old age pensioners, which means existing pensioners should be receiving $11,000 per month and not $7,500, or $250 (US$1.25) per day.  Instead, the Government blusters that their records are correct and refuses to investigate the concrete findings of the AFC.
While Rome was not built in day, given the seriousness of the situation, and one that has been allowed to fester under this Government’s watch, we have every right to expect a better response.  In that regard, the AFC, once again calls for the immediate deployment of undercover traffic ranks in minibuses and undercover police cars to patrol our roads.  This can be done right away as it does not require any training period as is required for traffic wardens.
Ranks can be switched around from outlying areas and other counties to minimise recognition by drivers.  They can maintain their cover by texting infractions committed to the nearest police station.  For safety they can operate in pairs, and to minimise collusion the pairs can be switched periodically.
The AFC also calls for undercover police cars to patrol our roads.  Given the continued high crime we experience in Guyana, and therefore, the high likelihood of imposters, these ranks must be in uniform at all times, and should not operate at night.  We reiterate these are immediately implementable solutions.
The AFC, recognising the unequal burden on the working people of Guyana, whose lives and livelihoods are put at risk daily, pledges to do much more than the appointment of traffic wardens. The AFC will embark upon a comprehensive road use programme immediately upon acceding to office.
Included in this is an overhaul of the licencing system; we have too many unqualified drivers on our roads.  Funding will be realised not only from the treasury, but from cutting Government fat and entering into public/private partnerships wherever feasible, such as in the licencing system and the inspection of vehicles.  Our limited police need be involved in enforcement primarily.
In addition, the AFC will make much better use of existing resources.  This includes giving incentives to bringing back the big buses for the long routes, placing existing traffic lights where they are needed most, utilising four-way-stop systems instead of traffic lights, demarcating existing roads with more lanes where possible, and utilising the State media for traffic education instead of propaganda.
As it relates to the big buses, the objective is not to put the minibuses out of business.  There is lots of room for more buses as seen by the numbers of passengers waiting at the bus parks, and the many stranded waiting on “short drops”.  The AFC recognises the essential services minibuses provide and the many difficult conditions they work under: expensive (and inferior) spare parts, bad roads, vandalism by school children and police harassment, to name a few.
That said, minibuses do take advantage of the public by overloading, speeding and driving recklessly, and playing obscene music.  Particularly on routes where there are too few buses, passengers, especially the regulars, become beholden to these operators and are fearful of saying anything when infractions are committed.  The ruling elite, of course, do not understand these realities from their ivory towers and seek to blame passengers for their own fate.  One solution here is increased competition, which the big buses will bring.  To be clear, while the AFC does not seek to blame hapless passengers, we do urge them to speak up.
The AFC will also take lessons from Jamaica (as suggested by The Alicea Foundation/Mothers in Black), where after the satisfactory completion of a special safe driving education programme, the minibus drivers and conductors were granted a minibus licence and ID with photograph included. A mandate of wearing a uniform was also enforced. Bus stops were constructed using funds from paid advertising on the outside of the bus stops that included road safety warnings. The outcome of this exercise reduced road fatalities and injuries by 50%.
The AFC further calls for separate speed limits for heavy vehicles to be implemented immediately.  Trucks driving at 80 kph on our roads is but a disaster in the making.  We should not wait until more lives are lost to act.
In the meantime, the AFC advises the people of Guyana, that where it can be proven that a driver involved in an accident obtained a driver’s licence fraudulently, the State can be held liable.  Under what is called vicarious liability, the State is liable if it is proven that an employee of the State while in the service of the State issued a fraudulent licence, and not while on a frolic of his own.  Especially where the State is aware that such activities take place – at least for more than a decade in the case of “buying your book” in Guyana.

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