Those ridiculous traffic penalties

Dec 29, 2014 Editorial

The increasing frequency with which motor cyclists are becoming fatal accident victims is reason enough for the police traffic department to conduct a review of its enforcement policy in that regard. Any casual observer on any given day will see many breaches of the legal requirement by motorcyclists to wear a safety helmet.
Failure by this category of road users has occasioned the senseless loss of life on the country’s roadways.
Although speeding is attributed as the leading cause of road accidents more attention needs to be paid to how well people are complying with the several other measures which the policy makers have adopted for the safety of all road users.
A perusal of the World Health Organization’s Global Health Observatory Data Repository reveals that the national motorcycle law Guyana applies to all engine types and that the requirement of motor cycle use adheres to a standard. The same casual observer will be quite correct in challenging this claim since riders of certain engine types can be seen traversing city streets helmetless and passing the occasional traffic police without hindrance.
Interestingly, those ranks do not even attempt to note the licence number of the motorcycle. On the question of standards, the impunity with which riders act is simply astounding. Riders are seen wearing bicycle helmets or unstrapped headgear which can only be described as a mockery. Moreover they very often endanger the lives of their pillion riders who – for the most part are children. The fine for a rider and/or pillion rider if found guilty is $10,000 each.
Another issue which the traffic department might wish to reinforce is the child restraint rule which requires drivers to ensure that children wear seatbelts, or are conveyed in a child restraint system. The question of who is to be considered a child could be raised, but in some countries a determination has been made that a child below a certain age must be secured with a seatbelt or placed in a child restraint system.
The almost laughable fact is that anyone failing to apply those sensible safety measures will have to pay a measly fine not exceeding $15,000 for a second offence. Is anyone really serious about children’s safety here?
It is alarming to see unsecured very young children being conveyed in the front seats of motor cars with their heads and hands outside. No one seems to have a care about what happens if there is a vehicular collision or other traffic incident.
The Trade Act Chapter 91:01 which prohibits the importation of any motor vehicle with tinted glass that prevents the driver or any passenger from being identified by any person outside of the tinted vehicle is another regulation which is observed more in the breach. How serious is the Ministry of Home Affairs about supporting the police force when in spite of the said Act persons are permitted to apply and receive a waiver for tint on their vehicles?
It would seem as if the concerns which led to the prohibition in the first place are no longer valid, or else it is a case of favoured persons being granted this concession. Maybe the ministry could advise the public if this is indeed the case and cause those over zealous crime patrol ranks to be instructed accordingly.
One fact which has not escaped the notice of the ordinary man in the street is the number of private vehicles owned by police ranks at all levels which are heavily tinted beyond the 65 to 35 percent light penetration.
Driving behind a heavily tinted vehicle is a hazardous exercise since there is no way that you can look through the windscreen to the road ahead and anticipate road users’ behavior. It is time that the force takes back its mandate firmly in the interest of total road traffic safety.

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