Comparing Italy’s scare with Guyana’s horrors

Feb 15, 2016 Letters

Dear Editor,
I read the letter about ‘driving madness’, and was a bit surprised that the position is exactly the same as it has been for years now, and people are still being injured or killed through reckless driving.
My own view is that legislation is urgently needed to introduce a strict speed limit on ALL roads – without “blah blah blah”, perhaps appointing traffic wardens to make a note of the licence plate numbers of drivers caught breaking the law, penalties being imposed later on.
This might involve a whole new bureaucratic set-up, but where people’s lives are at stake this is something worth thinking about. I have already described my own scary minicab experience when visiting Georgetown a few months ago, so I fully empathize with victims and their families. Thanks to the kindness of strangers, I was able to walk around the city with ease afterwards.
Looking back, in my travels to various parts of the world from the 1980s up to a few years ago, the only country where I have seen anything similar to Guyana’s traffic scene is Italy. But there, drivers seem to have a light-hearted approach to driving on the whole, and a relaxed relationship with road users, particularly in Rome.
When we visited in the early 1980s, to us, their antics were fascinating, puzzling and irritating. Yet it seemed to be ‘nornal’ to the locals. Trying to cross the wide road to get to the building which housed the Sistine Chapel, we stood on the white bar of the zebra crossing, a normal act in the UK, for drivers to stop and allow us to cross.
They did not, but drove happily along, then looked back and laughed their heads off. We realised that it was a game being played with the locals – a driver/pedestrian thing – “see if you could ‘scoot’ across before me”. A practised art, played by fit and healthy adults, apparently enjoyed by both sides. The Italian tour guide eventually stood in the middle of the road, during a lull, slowed the traffic down and led us across. We learnt a lesson.
Perhaps, because Italy at the time manufactured their own cars, probably affordable to many, the car seemed to be an object not to be taken too seriously, used to the max, then, replaced. Many of them were scruffy, their roofs coated with dust, and ‘droppings’.
Driving along the country roads, we saw stacks of discarded cars of varying colours, all arranged according to colour to form a pattern. Works of art – lovely countryside decorations, relieving boredom, encouraging conversation! Let us hope Guyana finds a solution to her traffic problems soon. Getting around safely and easily is important to the average tourist.
Geralda Dennison

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Comparing Italy’s scare with Guyana’s horrors

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