The lady says the police charging the wrong drivers

Jan 19, 2016 Letters

Dear Editor,
Please permit a little space for this important and far-reaching topic affecting all law abiding citizens as regards to the conduct and law affecting the populace. I was driving at 59km on a 50 km roadway in New Road, West Coast Demerara and was charged by traffic police making their daily hide and pounce method with speed guns. What I noticed when in the company of the traffic ranks was about 10 other drivers there awaiting their traffic tickets, some begging the ranks for leniency. Some drivers were issued tickets with violations of speeding at 52km and 53 km.
Editor, please note that if anyone is driving at speeds of 59km on this roadway, almost all other drivers will overtake him, this is the daily life on the roadway. This now left the police with the options of who and when to charge, meaning that they can now bargain with each and every driver which includes decent as well as errant drivers. When the law is such that it places all citizens in a position as defaulters it clearly lose touch with reality and stuck in medieval times. When we plead with the ranks to give us a chance as we are still within the decent 60km range, the officers remarked that the Government need revenues to maintain the country and the police have to play their part in collecting some of this revenue.
Considering the carnage, deaths, loss of property, loss of revenue and grieving relatives that characterized our roadway in recent history, one can only ask if the law and traffic police are contributing to these scourges?. What I mean is this; are police looking in the right direction to stop the carnage? Is the law there to engulf all decent drivers in the web of criminality? This complaint is not meant to tarnish anyone but to point out that the police and by extension the governmental system are looking in the wrong direction and the law is allowing decent citizens to bear the pain of the real criminals out there.
Now who are the real criminals on the roadway? At any moment of the day one can witness the following happening: speeding over 120 km on any road, drag racing, undertaking, stopping without trafficator lights on, pulling out close to incoming traffic without trafficator lights, forming illegal lanes, breaching traffic lights, obstructing the flow of traffic, overtaking while there is incoming traffic, forcing vehicles off the road by driving in wrong lanes. These traffic violations are not one off infringements but happening each seconds of the day. With a ten minutes’ drive by a decent driver at any time of the day, on any road, he will have to dodge 10 accidents if he was not cautious or alert. Yet the police and the law will drag this decent driver into its books as offenders.
What I am advocating is that if the Government really want revenues from errant drivers, then it will not only make millions but billions if the right persons are roped in. This might be the highest source of income for the budget, beating gold, sugar and rice. Not the few decent drivers who try all means to avoid accidents by driving at the pedestrian 59 km and still have to pay up. There will be a two-fold benefit to the Government and people of Guyana if the right persons are charged; the billions in revenue earned and the reduction of accidents that caused loss of revenue to the country.
Who the traffic police are targeting all the while will not stem the deaths and accidents, that is why the statistics continue to climb. The police have primarily targeted drivers who marginally drive above the speed limits, drivers with expired license, expired insurance, expired fitness, tint, and music. Unfortunately these simple infringements are only responsible for less than 5 % of all accidents and the police have dedicated 100% of their energies and resources here. With suitable methods, honesty and skill, it is easy to capture errant drivers that even a school boy will tell you, not by jumping in the middle of the roadway to make your revenue. If the police needs my suggestion on the methods to capture the real road renegades, then I can do another letter. All the while, people were left to wonder why no control on the roadways and now we can see who are the real criminals and who had to bear the pain.
Marcia Seepersaud

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The lady says the police charging the wrong drivers

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