Road accidents are now a national emergency

Jul 24, 2024 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Kaieteur News – A gruesome accident on the Corentyne Public Road has left an eighteen-year-old girl dead and her boyfriend, another young person, seriously injured. The authorities will have to determine the proximate cause of the accident. This horrific incident raises several issues that need to be addressed. These issues should be tackled now to prevent further tragedies on our roads.

Almost seven months ago, the President of Guyana promised a national conversation on road safety. He pledged that this conversation would lead to a robust road safety and traffic management plan. New laws, regulations, and technology were supposed to be part of this plan. However, this conversation is yet to commence. The Opposition is justly concerned about the number of accidents on our roads.

Technology, new laws and regulations will help but enforcement is a problem. The enforcement of traffic laws has become a cash cow for corruption. This undermines the potential impact of any new legislation.

The fatal accident at Kiltearn is one of many involving parked machinery and vehicles on our roads. The Corentyne Highway is poorly lit. This poor lighting makes parked machinery, vehicles, and even animals a significant risk. We must fix the poor lighting on our public roads.

Importing more lights is not the solution if visibility remains poor despite their presence. We need better lighting rather than simply more lighting. We also have to seriously limit the number of parked vehicles and machinery on our public roads.

The Corentyne Public Road is a major accident risk.  In large sections, the verges of the public road are cluttered with heavy machinery and vehicles. Trucks, draglines, excavators, harvesters, tractors, and other industrial and agricultural machinery line the road. The government needs to take strong action to limit the approval for such industrial machinery and vehicles on the road’s verges.

For some, this may seem like a sign of progress. However, when such machinery encroaches on the shoulders of the road, it constitutes a risk to life and limb. There needs to be a decision to keep the verges of public roads clear. This will be an unpopular decision, especially for the bourgeois class that supports the PPP. Nonetheless, safety cannot be compromised by popularity.

There also need to be regulations for heavy machinery left overnight on our roadways. This practice should be minimized. Any area where heavy machinery is left should be well-lit, with pre-warning signs on the approach to these obstructions.

It is obvious that the vehicle in which the girl and her boyfriend were traveling was speeding. Many young people have lost their lives in accidents where speeding was the proximate cause. The government should investigate the issuance of licences over the past five years. We need to determine whether these young people were properly certified to drive on the country’s roads.

If an analysis of fatal road accidents finds that in the majority of cases, young people were the drivers and that speeding was the main cause, a case can be made for extending the age at which someone can be granted a driver’s licence. This will also be a controversial measure. But tough decisions have to be made if lives are to be saved.

Technology should be leveraged to improve road safety. This includes speed cameras, red light cameras, and other monitoring devices.

Occasional traffic campaigns are not enough. The government needs to take stringent measures to stem the high incidence of road accidents and fatalities.

Improving road infrastructure is essential. This includes better lighting, clear road signs, and well-maintained road surfaces.  Strict regulations should be implemented for roadside parking of heavy machinery and vehicles. There should be designated areas for such parking, away from the main road.

Special emphasis should be placed on educating young drivers about road safety. Start early by reintroducing road safety education in schools. Have students take the theory part of their driving tests in school, with grading handled by a certifying authority, not the police.

The process of issuing driver’s licences to young drivers should be thoroughly reviewed. Only those who meet stringent criteria should be granted licences. The practical driving tests should be undertaken by independent instructors and not by the police.

Improving the efficiency of emergency response teams is vital. Quick and effective response to accidents can save lives. Emergency response teams should be increased along the coast.

The government must move beyond occasional traffic campaigns. Road safety should be treated as a continuous priority. By implementing stringent measures, we can reduce the high incidence of road accidents and fatalities. The time for action is now. The time for promises is long gone. We owe it to the victims of road accidents and their families to make our roads safer for everyone.

(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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• conversation, Corentyne Public Road, emergency, enforcement, Peeping Tom

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