Bloody Road Safety Week highlights wanton disregard for traffic laws

Nov 29, 2019 News

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– 13 serious accidents in five days

By Shikema Dey

Road Safety Week 2019 commenced last Sunday (November 24). Ironically, drivers somehow have decided to go wild during this period, disregarding traffic laws and the repeated calls by the Guyana Road Safety Council and the police traffic departments to stop speeding.

Readers have been greeted daily with headline after headline, all portraying the same trend; “car topples”, “car crashes”, “bus turns turtle”, “truck crashes”, “persons killed”, “persons seriously injured”.
It happened before
The tragedy of Road Safety Week 2019 is reportedly nothing new.
Kaieteur News understands that in 2015, when the Guyana Police Force dedicated an entire month to road safety, eleven persons were killed in 22 days.
It was reportedly the fourth deadliest period for road users in that year.
Tragedy abounds
The tragedies began when a new father, 31-year-old David Headly was killed in an early morning accident on Sunday, November 24. Reports are Headly was driving his motorcar PRR 253 at a fast rate when he collided with a bridge rail at Felicity on the East Coast Demerara public road.

Earlier that Sunday, just after midnight, 29-year-old Police Officer, Carl Roach died after his Ducati motorcycle collided with a car at the corner of Brickdam and Chalmers Place. The impact killed him instantly.
The next day, November 25, an Essequibo labourer, 52-year-old Raymond Cassal was killed in a hit-and-run accident. Residents had found his lifeless body lying on the roadway sporting multiple injuries.
Later on in the evening, a car, said to be travelling at a fast rate crashed into a utility pole on the Lusignan public road, East Coast Demerara. At Mon Repos, a truck barreled into the Republic Bank branch, leaving several persons injured. On the same day also, a car took a turn – allegedly too fast – and

ran off the road near the US Embassy.
The next day, November 26, saw a horrific crash that claimed the lives of businessman Dillon DeRamos and Senior Superintendent Brain Eastman. The SUV the men were travelling in slammed into a concrete fence at Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown. The vehicle was wrecked beyond repair.
The bloodshed spilled over to the next day, November 27, when a mini bus transporting school children and teachers toppled on the Cove and John public road. Thankfully, no one was seriously injured in this accident.
But further up at Bush Lot, West Coast of Berbice, an innocent 7-year-old boy’s life was snuffed out as he stood with his mother and siblings, mere moments after coming from school.
Nifran Nazamadeen, his mother and 8-year-old sister were standing on the parapet when a speeding motorcar barreled through them, killing the young lad instantly. He was still wearing his schoolbag as his body lay trapped under the wrecked car.Later that evening, a car flipped while negotiating a turn at Linden. On that same night also, a pick-up crashed into a cow on the Diamond, EBD access road. At Rahaman’s Park,

a motor car lay flipped after the driver lost control.
It did not end there. Yesterday, at Middle Road, La Penitence, a two-vehicle smashup left one woman seriously injured. When Kaieteur News arrived on the scene, the woman’s umbrella and slippers were pitched distance away while blood was on the ground.
Angry residents in the area stated that a Ministry of Communities vehicle collided with a car driven by a police rank who failed to stop at the intersection. This resulted in both vehicles crashing into a nearby corner shop, destroying sections of the fence and injuring the bystander. The woman was awaiting transportation to head to work.
Hours later, a three-wheeled vehicle toppled at Turkeyen leaving one woman nursing serious injuries.
The speed racers
Despite the many traffic laws and strict penalties put in place

against speeding, drivers still continue to use the roadways in a reckless manner, endangering not only themselves, but passengers and patrons nearby.
In fact, speeding was the leading cause of all of the accidents seen throughout this bloody Road Safety Week. Traffic Chief, Linden Isles is at his wits’ end. He told Kaieteur News that the traffic department has been playing their part but yet, the recklessness still persists.
“We have been doing our part…education, TV programmes, lectures to schools, lectures to drivers, enforcement exercises, but this does not seem to be hitting home with persons. All of the accidents throughout this week, look at them, all were caused by speeding.”
The traffic chief stressed that no matter how much they plead with drivers to adhere to the speed limit, the call falls on deaf ears.

“The traffic department keeps imploring drivers to drive at the correct speed limit; we have been having exercises continuously, charging them for speeding, but nothing…”
Inquest into the reckless road use
Government’s Chief Spokesperson, Director General of the Ministry of the Presidency, Joseph Harmon yesterday revealed that the government will be conducting an inquest into the reckless use of the road due to the dramatic increase in traffic lawlessness over the past few days.
Harmon said “every life that we lose in this country is important to us.”
“We are a very small population and therefore every single life which is lost by unnatural means will require an inquest…so the death of persons on our roads is a source of major concern to us as a government, not only the numbers, but the quality of the persons that
died, some of them are young, in the prime of their lives.”
The Director General says that the government will do whatever is necessary to ensure that the roadways are safe. “We want the citizens to feel safe on the roadways, when they use public transportation; we want certain standards to be enforced so persons feel safe.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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