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Road accidents cost the state $$$billions annually
…only one percent of those involved attempt to repay
By Rehana Ahamad
Engineer, Terence O’ Brien
When accidents occur on the roadways, it not only cost lives and devastate families, but it also takes a massive toll on state resources. Public Security Minister, Khemraj Ramjattan, had estimated that as of last November, the country had to expend in excess of $4.3B to facilitate medical responses and execute repairs to the damage caused by road accidents.
“Almost for each death, a value, with all the other auxiliaries, come up to US$200,000…that’s a massive, massive set of money,” Ramjattan said, as he spoke at a Road Safety Month forum back in November.
During the Fourth Ministry of Public Works’ Engineering Conference in 2012, an assessment of the impact of crashes was done.
It showed that 77 percent of the road accidents in the country occur during 05:00hrs and 18:00hrs. The majority of the victims are between the ages of 36 and 40.
Eighty-five percent of them are men driving private cars. Statistics show also that negligence is the cause of most of these devastating crashes, while just about 26 percent occur while the drivers are speeding and/or are under the influence of alcohol.
The document, seen by this newspaper also outlined the most dangerous route as being from Georgetown to Buxton, East Coast Demerara.
Engineer, Terence O’Brien of the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, explained that in every instance, the person or persons involved in a crash that causes damage to government property(s), is required to pay compensation.
It was highlighted that there are two approaches to restitution. According to protocol, those involved in a crash are first to be taken to the court, where they are allowed to present their arguments.
“Many times people die, and others show up in court with their sad stories. Complaints about not being able to work, having children to take care of and the expenses of repairing their cars and so on come up.
“The courts feel sorry for them, and most times the cases end up being thrown out,” O’Brien explained.
Since this route still burdens taxpayers, the Engineer said that they usually present persons involved in an accident with the second option, first. This involves them going through the police force to work out a payment plan for the damage done to state property.
“In cases like these, sometimes we would get some people coming in and at least making one payment, but in the first instance, we would let them know that they are expected to complete payment and they can pay in (installments),” O’Brien pointed out.
His colleague, Lallram Seeram, chipped in with the revelation that only about one percent of the people involved in accidents actually show up to pay. The other 99 percent are allowed to slip under the radar. Many of them end up being involved in future accidents.
“The laws state that there is a standard $50,000 fine attached to every road accident involving Government property. In addition to paying this, the person (s) involved in the accident must stand the cost of replacing the damaged structure. In many cases, they must serve 10 months in prison.”
As it relates to insurance companies, the 2012 assessment read, “Based on information submitted by the Bank of Guyana (BoG) for all insurance companies in Guyana, it can be concluded that the total financial cost of crashes for the period of 2012, is approximately US$5.1M.”
This represents just about 0.2% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the year 2012, which was US$2.8B.
O’Brien said that he is hopeful that the stricter laws that are now in place would make a difference. It is clear that if road users exercise caution and follow the rules, more money can be plugged into other sectors such as Health and Education, instead of fixing damaged infrastructure.
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