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Addressing the Carnage on Our Roads: A Call for Immediate Action

Nov 21, 2024 Letters

Dear Editor,

Every week, we wake up to news of another life tragically lost on Guyana’s roads. It is sickening!! Families are devastated, communities are grieving, and the toll continues to mount. Behind this carnage lies a deadly mix of reckless behavior from truck operators and glaring failures in enforcement and governance.

Heavy vehicles have become a menace on our roads. Trucks overloaded with sand, timber, stone and industrial materials routinely barrel through populated areas at excessive speeds. Many of these vehicles are poorly maintained, and their drivers, often operating under extreme fatigue, show blatant disregard for traffic laws. The result is destruction—crushed vehicles, obliterated infrastructure, and shattered lives. This demands immediate and decisive action…and now.

The Government’s Failure to Act

It is not enough to blame the drivers alone. These tragedies expose systemic failures by the government to ensure road safety. Whatever laws exist are weakly enforced. Regulations are outdated or just ignored. The government has failed to enforce basic safety measures such as speed limits for heavy vehicles, roadside inspections, and safe infrastructure designs.

This inaction is inexcusable. While industries benefiting from heavy vehicle traffic thrive, citizens are left to bear the brunt of unsafe roads and lawlessness. Editor, it is not progress when economic activities come at the cost of human lives.

We need to act now!!

This road safety crisis demands solutions grounded in accountability, enforcement, and modernization. Here is where we must start:

  1. Zero Tolerance for Violations:
    • Enforce stricter penalties for speeding, overloading, and operating unroadworthy trucks. Fines must be so severe that violations become unthinkable.
    • Suspend or revoke the licenses of reckless drivers and impose heavy sanctions on employers who pressure drivers to take dangerous risks.
  2. Mandatory Driver Certification
    • Establish accredited driver training schools specializing in heavy vehicle operation aligned with international best practices  as recommended by international standards.
    • Require every truck driver to undergo comprehensive training and certification, with recertification every two years. Those without certification must not be allowed on our roads.
  3. Independent Oversight of Vehicle Inspections
    • Transfer the inspection and licensing of vehicles to an independent. Routine, rigorous checks must become non-negotiable.
  4. Technology to Monitor and Deter
    • Mandate tachographs to monitor truck speeds and driving hours, and equip vehicles with black boxes to aid in crash investigations.
    • Install weigh-in-motion sensors and automated speed cameras on highways to ensure compliance with load limits and speed regulations.
  5. Upgraded Infrastructure
    • Designate safety corridors with reduced speed limits and enhanced enforcement in high-risk areas.
    • Upgrade roads to meet heavy vehicle standards and establish rest stops to combat driver fatigue.
  6. Public Awareness and Accountability
    • Conduct public campaigns highlighting the consequences of reckless driving. These campaigns must expose the human cost of every crash.
    • Establish a publicly accessible database of road safety violations, holding both individuals and companies accountable.

Editor, leadership is about putting citizens first and ensuring their safety. It is clear that the current government is failing the people of Guyana. If we continue to allow reckless truck operators and lax enforcement to dominate, more lives will be needlessly lost.

The Government must act now and take the bold steps required to make our roads safe. Parliament must get to work updating the legal infrastructure, to bring an end to the carnage on our roads and ensure that those responsible—drivers, companies, and authorities alike—are held accountable.

We owe it to the people of Guyana to act now before more lives are sacrificed to inaction and indifference and ignorance.

My thoughts and prayers are with the family and loved ones of Mr. Carlton Smartt who lost his life yesterday at the hands of a speeding truck driver. May God make it easy for us.

Sincerely,
Hon. Amanza Walton Desir, M.P
Member of Parliament

(Addressing the Carnage on Our Roads: A Call for Immediate Action)

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