Just as half of 65 is 34, half of a roundabout is death

Sep 03, 2021 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

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Kaieteur News – It is said that in a few years’ time oil revenue should engender a positive enhancement of the economy. In other words, oil revenue should allow for economic growth. But do those dollars translate into commonsense?
The perfect example is the United States, a country whose production of wealth is at times incredible and surreal. The US is a country whose production in science and technology is phenomenal. In the US, the number of newspapers, magazines and journals far exceed the combined number in 150 countries.
But do wealth and post-modern status lead to psychological stability and modern philosophical thinking inside the soul of an individual? The US is the perfect example for the answer. The answer is no. This is the land where there is a big fight against Covid-19 vaccination and Covid-19 restrictions. This is the country where it is perfectly normal for a protestor on the picket line to be seen carrying frightening machine guns tied to or strapped to the body.
The enormous resources of a nation do not mean that the society will have enlightened people. Do you know the rural poor in India are far warmer humans than the urban elites in the US? Do you know in poor, undeveloped countries there is more love for family members and relatives than in the US? The creation of wealth has nothing to do with how people think philosophically.
The prediction in this country is that oil wealth will bring better things in general. We may even have bridges that link the country including some major islands in the Essequibo like Wakenaam and Leguan, and people can drive into Region Two from Region Four. But will there be an expansion in commonsense?
Let’s argue commonsense making reference to philosophy. Most philosophers, maybe with the exception of Karl Marx and Jean Jacques Rousseau, contend that there has to be some form of deterrence in ensuring that humans observe the rights of others. No other philosopher has argued that point with persuasive elegance as Thomas Hobbes.
We are talking commonsense here. If you are not punished for molesting a woman, then women have no rights. Traffic signals is one of the most potent arguments for commonsense. Traffic lights perform two commonsensical functions. First, it deters bad behaviour thus instilling in people a sense of recognition of the rights of others. Secondly, it informs humans that there is a deadly price to pay for behaving in an uncivilised manner.
Even the insane, the homeless, the idiot know that he/she will die if he/she goes through a red light, because people that have the green will collide with them. My question is: does it make sense to remove traffic signals to widen a road with the argument that the wider the road, more space there is to drive? But how can that be sensible thinking when users of wider roads still face traffic coming from the opposite direction? Someone has to regulate traffic no matter how spacious the roadways are. That is the traffic light.
If you take a poll among the entire population of Guyana as to which country has the worst drivers, Guyana will come on top of the list. Which fool in Guyana will doubt that? In such a territory where people drive insanely, you replace traffic lights with an aesthetic roundabout. But there is nothing inside the mind of reckless drivers that is aesthetic.
So, Guyana removes traffic signals at the junction of Vlissengen Road and Carifesta Avenue and at the junction of Sherriff Street and the Railway Embankment, in place we have now two roundabouts. Strangely and most mysteriously, our first roundabout outside the Bank of Guyana still has traffic lights. Can someone explain this eerie story outside the Bank of Guyana?
Here is my point. Don’t drivers still face opposite traffic flow at these two roundabouts? And what is the difference with these two roundabouts and the one at the Cenotaph at Avenue of the Republic? Here is the difference. The drivers that use the roundabout in downtown Georgetown by the Cenotaph are not real humans. They are dangerous maniacs whose driving has to be regulated by the signals.
The drivers that use the two new roundabouts at the seawall road and at Sherriff Street and the Railway Embankment are nice people who behave like babies. They are not part of Guyana’s population of dangerous reckless drivers. I have a suggestion. Remove water and electricity meters and allow citizens to pay what they think they have used. They will be honest and pay the right amount. Finally, do away with traffic signals in the entire country. What purpose they serve?

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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