Decades of deaths and injury at Huntley’s bend

Mar 24, 2026 Letters

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Dear Editor,

It is with great sadness that I write regarding the deaths of the two adults and injury of the four children in the car accident at the sharp bend in the road/highway at the eastern end of the village of Huntley Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara (“Taxi driver, passenger die in Mahaicony crash”, Kaieteur News, March 22, 2026). My deepest sympathy to the families, relatives, and friends of the deceased; and my wish for a full and speedy recovery of the children.

I grew up in the village of Huntley as a child in the 1950s and that bend in the road/highway has been a death trap for drivers and their passengers on a regular basis over the decades since my childhood years. Many years ago, government took action to eliminate a number of dangerous bends (turns) and straighten the road/highway in parts of East Coast Demerara. Unfortunately, the sharp bend (almost a 45-degree angle) at the meeting point of the eastern end of Huntley and the western end of Airy Hall, where this accident took place, was never addressed.

In the 1950s when the now called highway was a burnt-earth brick road and the speed of motor vehicles was significantly slower, many drivers were unable to handle this bend. Often their vehicle would run off the road, ending up in the roadside trench and result in one or more deaths. Now with the paved road called highway and an incredible increase in the volume of motor vehicles travelling at very high speed, this bend is an even worse death trap.

From my personal knowledge as a driver in Guyana, the Huntley-Airy Hall bend is one of the most dangerous turns on the East Coast Demerara road/highway that runs from Vlissengen Road, Georgetown, in the west to the Abary River in the east, a distance of around 35 – 40 miles. According to DriverAbroad.com, “the definitive guide to self-driving in every country of the world”, the speed limits in Guyana are “100 kmh on highways, 80 kmh on rural roads and 50 kmh in urban areas”. I believe the speed limit of 80 kmh through the villages from Huntley in the west to Abary in the east is far too high when one considers the population density lining both sides of the road/highway through these villages.

As noted, rural roads are now called highways in Guyana and during my last visit to Guyana in 2014, I observed drivers racing through these villages with impunity at speeds exceeding the 80 kmh limit. In an earlier letter captioned “Death does not give a second chance” (Kaieteur News, July 28, 2024) I wrote “it seems that the majority of road fatalities are caused by irresponsible drivers who are often males under the age of forty with a significant number being in their late teens or early twenties… These individuals often lose control of their own vehicle, killing themselves or causing the deaths of others”. According to news reports, the driver in this accident was 24 years of age and was speeding to overtake a line of vehicles when he lost control of his vehicle at the turn.

During my 2014 visit to Guyana, I cannot recall seeing any highly visible sign posted on the Huntley roadside warning drivers proceeding east to “slow down, dangerous, sharp bend ahead” or a similar sign on the Airy Hall roadside to warn drivers proceeding west. If there is no such warning sign on the roadside, this driver from far-off Tuschen, Essequibo, who is now deceased, was likely caught by surprise at suddenly encountering the bend while driving at a high speed and hence lost control of his vehicle thereby resulting in two deaths and four injured.

I hope Guyana’s Minister of Public Works, The Honourable Bishop Juan Edghill, and his roads engineers will look into this accident and take the necessary corrective action to prevent any further loss of life at this bend. In my view, if there is no appropriate warning sign in either direction leading up to this bend, such signs should be installed immediately.  Also, from my reading of the Guyana daily newspapers, it seems that possibly one in three accidents is caused by a driver losing control of his/her vehicle. Apart from stricter driver certification and greater traffic law enforcement, another early step to address the high rate of traffic fatalities throughout the country is to reduce the speed limit on rural roads from 80 kmh to 60 kmh or less especially in villages with high population density on both sides of the road/highway. Guyana’s rural roads/highways, now with no distinct elevated footpath or sidewalk, is a hazard to pedestrians. Current speed limit of 80 kmh simply increases the danger.

Yours truly,

Harry Hergash

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• deaths and injury at Huntley’s bend, Harry Hergash, Huntley’s bend, Letters

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