Latest update May 25th, 2026 12:35 AM
Minister Benn cites need for heightened enforcement of traffic laws
Minister with responsibility for transport Robeson Benn believes that greater oversight, enforcement of traffic laws and training for drivers are critical for the reduction of vehicular accidents on the roadways.
“We are not convinced that all the drivers on the road are all properly trained and disciplined enough to apply the training they have had into practice. So we have a very unsafe situation with respect to that,” he noted.
Robeson Benn
The Minister made these comments in a recent interview with this publication, while acknowledging the carnage on the roadways.
According to Benn, the Ministry of Home Affairs did roll out programmes and crafted laws governing driving under the influence of alcohol and usage of seatbelts and speeding. However, over the years there have been a number of fatal accidents. As such, Guyana has not arrived at the point where the number of road fatalities is considerably below 100 fatalities per year.
Nonetheless, it should be acknowledged that there has been a tremendous increase in vehicles on the roadways within the last few years. “So while there has been an increase in vehicles on the roads we have had a relative reduction in fatalities. The situation is much improved but there is room for improvement,” he said.
Benn related that the Ministry of Public Works has been working on improving road infrastructure to make the roadways safe.
“We have done road widening in improving the road pavements and infrastructure. We have just concluded the bridges two project, where we have put in a large number of new, safer bridges and culverts over the full extent of the East Bank Demerara along the West Coast Berbice,” he said.
Benn said that the Ministry has also implemented roadside barriers which have proven to be effective.
“They are being banged up frequently but when they are banged up it usually means that they are saving people from going into the canal and drowning. And we are constantly repairing those. It is a big struggle but we are still doing that. And we are bringing more roadside barriers and furniture, signage including chevrons to indicate the turns, cross walk and road mile signage,” he added.
The Minister admitted that it is quite a task to keep up with repairs at the rate at which they are damaged. One issue of concern for the Ministry is the large number lot mile/kilometers posts that have been stolen.
He noted that with respect to the culture of drinking and driving, speeding and other malpractices, the Ministry has been working with the Ministry of Home Affairs to curb this. He noted that there have been a number of meetings and seminars addressing these issues.
Benn related that the Ministry’s Central Transport Planning Unit recently conducted a survey to determine commuters’ satisfaction along the various public minibus routes. The Ministry is currently evaluating the results of the survey which will be presented and discussed this week.
“For all the routes there are more than 33 percent passengers with complete dissatisfaction in areas of speeding, loud music, touting; roughly 40 percent of persons say they are satisfied with the service based on the survey; and the other 26 percent show that they are neither one way or the other and I take that as being dissatisfied, he said.
According to Benn, based on this, the Ministry hopes to share the report with the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government and most importantly the route operators. He noted that there are particular routes that have lower levels of satisfaction than others.
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