137 road deaths recorded for 2025

Jan 10, 2026 News

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(Kaieteur News) – In 2025, Guyana’s roadways proved increasingly deadly, with the Guyana Police Force (GPF) recording 137 road traffic deaths arising from 124 accidents.

This represents a six per cent increase in fatalities compared to 2024, when 117 accidents resulted in 132 deaths. However, the GPF revealed in a statement on Friday that there was an overall reduction of 10 per cent in total road accidents, falling from 2,405 in 2024 to 2,177 in 2025. This decline was driven mainly by fewer non-fatal incidents across all categories, including serious, minor, and damage-only accidents.

Serious accidents fell from 303 cases in 2024 to 286 in 2025, a decrease of six per cent, while minor accidents declined by seven per cent, from 518 to 481 cases. Damage-only accidents recorded the largest reduction, dropping from 1,467 to 1,288 cases, a 12 per cent decrease. Additionally, the number of children affected by fatal accidents remained unchanged at six in both years.

The GPF stated that it “remains committed to sustained crime-fighting strategies, community engagement, and proactive policing as it continues to work toward ensuring the safety and security of all citizens.”

In April, President Irfaan Ali revealed that 43 per cent of road fatalities recorded so far for 2025 involved motorcyclists, with 72 per cent of those victims not wearing helmets at the time of their accidents. The President disclosed the alarming statistics in a Facebook post, urging greater caution among road users. “I am appealing to all road users, especially motorcyclists, to exercise extreme caution on our roadways. So far this year, 43 per cent of all road fatalities were motorcyclists, and of those who lost their lives, 72 per cent were not wearing a helmet,” President Ali said.

Further in November, during National Road Safety Month under the theme “Careful Driving Saves Lives,” the World Bank warned that Guyana’s road death rate — 15 per 100,000 people — remains “unacceptably high.” Prime Minister Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips confirmed that between 2020 and 2024 the country recorded 574 crashes and 642 deaths, including 24 children. World Bank Resident Representative for Guyana, Diletta Doretti, wrote in an op-ed column that Guyana has set a national target of reducing annual road fatalities to fewer than 50 by 2030, as part of a new national safety initiative that will be partially supported by the World Bank.

Despite efforts by the government to curb fatalities through the introduction of the e-ticketing system and speed monitoring meters, road deaths remain high, with accidents occurring almost daily and some claiming multiple lives in a single crash.

Between February 23 and February 28, 2025, thirteen people lost their lives in separate accidents across the country. On February 23 and 24, 64-year-old Dennis Gilkes was killed by a motor lorry in Corentyne, Berbice, while 40-year-old Abdool Sharaf Rahim was struck by a car at Wallers Delight, West Coast Demerara. In another incident, three young men, Keishan Ramnauth (18), Adrian Inshan (22), and Ameer Subhan (21), died in a motorcycle collision in Corentyne.

Between February 26 and 27, 19-year-old Annalisa Smith died in a car crash in Berbice, while married couple Shane Tyndall (39) and Shabeca Gordon (35) died after their vehicle flipped in Eccles, East Bank Demerara. On February 28, eight more fatalities were recorded, including 32-year-old Keron DeFreitas on the Linden–Soesdyke Highway, and three others, Davenand Bernard (19), Reion Alphonso (28), and Leon Marks (62), in two separate accidents on the Essequibo Coast. A pedestrian was also killed in Bagotstown, East Bank Demerara.

On August 19, a fiery collision between two trucks on the Soesdyke–Linden Highway near Loo Creek resulted in three deaths: 73-year-old Lionel Campbell, an unidentified passenger, and a Venezuelan woman known only as “Melie,” who burned to death when one of the trucks exploded. Just days earlier, on August 16, a Toyota Fielder wagon collided with a truck along the same highway, killing seven-year-old Meranzo Campbelle, Shelly Joseph, and Keiron Wells. On August 17, a family of three, Jagnarine Stephen, Keyra Stephen, and their toddler daughter Laurel, died in a crash along the Rupununi to Lethem trail in Region Nine after their motorcycle reportedly collided with a minibus.

In October, 15-year-old Navindra Mahes, a student of Annandale Secondary School, was killed after being struck by a car driven by a female police corporal along the Success Public Road, East Coast Demerara. Police said the teen was attempting to cross at a pedestrian crossing when he was hit, later succumbing to his injuries at the Georgetown Public Hospital.

In November, 16-year-old schoolgirl Jodea Seline died following an accident on the Number 63 Public Road, Corentyne, Berbice, when a minibus carrying schoolchildren toppled. Teacher Jerome Bernard also later succumbed to injuries.

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• accident, Annalisa Smith, horrific, road deaths

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