Pothole sends driver into canal

May 03, 2012 News

A US-based Guyanese man is lucky to be alive after a dangerous pothole

The driver swerved from a pothole on the Cemetery Road Bridge and ended up in the trench

sent his car plunging into a trench along Cemetery Road, Georgetown yesterday morning.
Forty-year-old Christopher Giles, was forced to crawl out of the car without unbuckling his seatbelt, which had trapped him. He then managed to crawl his way through the driver’s window and was then assisted by public spirited persons.
According to information, Giles, who was driving his sister’s car, had just dropped his wife and baby home.
The 40-year-old man declined to answer any questions. However, persons who were at the scene said that he drove into a huge pothole on the Cemetery Road bridge. This caused his tyre to burst and the car to plummet into the trench.
Kaieteur News was told that Giles, who was supposed to return to the United States of America on Friday had just collected his passport. The document was soaked as were other documents.
Yesterday, angry residents gathered at the scene and began shouting, “Let’s block this bridge; we have been tolerating a lot…This bridge has so many potholes and yet the government is not doing anything.”
Kaieteur News was told that yesterday’s incident was the second within one month.

The driver, Christopher Giles, disposing of his wet and muddy clothes

Earlier this month a driver swerved from a pothole and ended up in the same canal.
“Last year, a motorcyclist died on that other bridge (adjacent to the Cemetery Road Bridge) and is then them come and repair it. If it wasn’t for that man’s death that bridge would have remained like that,” a resident, Fiona Wilson, claimed.
Other residents shouted, “The government has turned a blind eye on us. For years we have been making complaints but these people want to see blood before they do something.”