Drunk driving fatalities a worry to police

Mar 26, 2013 News

Police are blaming too much social activities and the meager fine for the prevalence of drunk driving on the country’s roads.
Within recent times drunk driving has resulted in a number of road deaths, especially on East Coast Demerara, the latest being that of 34-year old Denishram Persaud of Unity, Mahaica.

Porters at the GPHC removing the body of hit-and-run victim Denishram Persaud from a police vehicle on Sunday night.

On Sunday night Persaud was riding home when in the vicinity of Bee Hive, he was struck down by a Canter truck, the driver of which remains at large.
From all indications the driver was under the influence of alcohol, since all the occupants of the truck who were taken into custody admitted that they were drunk.
The recent deaths have not gone down well with police on East Coast Demerara, since almost all of the drivers responsible were positively tested for excessive alcohol consumption.
“Every week there is some kind of activity and the police cannot be everywhere to monitor drivers who imbibe at these activities,” one traffic rank told this newspaper.
He believes that educating drivers on the consequences of drunk driving alone cannot solve the problem.
Instead, it is the wide view of a number of police traffic officials that the penalty for drunk driving should be stiffer.
“What is $7500 for a man to pay if he is caught driving while under the influence of alcohol?” an official from the East Coast Demerara traffic department asked.
He argued that persons have been deported from developed countries after being convicted of dangerous driving while under the influence of alcohol.

“The penalties must be there for people to respect the law,” the traffic official stated.
So far this year five persons have been killed in road accidents on East Coast Demerara, compared with six for the same period last year.
Recently, Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee told police officers that the work that the Force has been doing to restrict the number of fatal accidents on the country’s roads is not unreasonable.
But Rohee acknowledged that the issue of speeding, inattentive driving and driving under the influence of alcohol has been blamed as the principal reasons for the number of traffic accidents that have been occurring in the country.
“The time has now come for a review to be done of the present written and practical examinations that are being conducted by the Force to allow persons to obtain driver’s licences,” he said.
The Minister noted that soon there will be tangible assistance for the police to deal with the traffic situation.
“To assist the Police Traffic Department, we have submitted the names of 75 applicants to be Traffic Wardens. I am still awaiting a response from Force Headquarters on the outcome of the screening in process,” Minister Rohee had stated.