Dear Editor,
Attention must be drawn to the frequent and fatal accidents on our roadways over the last year. It is evident that many road users fail to exercise the five basic principles when using the roads. As a learner driver, you are taught when driving, the following five Cs must be exercised: caution, consideration, care, common sense, and courtesy.
These accidents are gruesome and painful for families to cope with, but unfortunately there are no systems in place to help relatives with the trauma as they live through death anniversary after death anniversary or years of caring for seriously injured victims. In many instances too, there is no justice which further adds to the trauma.
Editor, I publicly applaud the work being done by Ms. Romona Doorgen, and her team at Guyana Road Safety Council, where training is done to sensitize and or educate motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians, on defensive driving and how to use the roadways. Indeed, accidents can be avoided if road users were to exercise the 5 Cs, drive within the speed limit and be held accountable by the traffic department. As a driver, I have witnessed the callous and reckless behavior of a few road users.
Additionally, the trucking business has grown significantly in recent years. Truck drivers are now involved in most of the recent accidents. Some drivers appear to be inexperienced and I have wondered how many qualify to be truck drivers and or passed their driving tests. Daily, the operators of these huge trucks can be seen utilising the roadways indiscriminately. Is there a daily quota of trips required of these drivers? Why the hurry? I rather suspect, Editor, that many of these trucks transport materials way over the regulated weight and are compromising the integrity of the roads, many of which were not built to accommodate them. We need to urgently revisit the traffic laws with the view to amending them appropriately with punitive fines and penalties.
The Coalition had commenced work on a network of roads and highways to link and reduce the traffic build up along the East Coast/East Bank Corridor. The PPP/C would do well to roll out those well thought out plans instead of the arbitrary work being done. There are a number of areas downtown which also need to be revisited to ease the traffic congestion during business hours. The traffic department and other relevant authorities need to be mindful that the area bound by Vlissengen Road, Brickdam, Water St and Lamaha Streets is occupied by schools, banks, public entities, markets, hospitals, restaurants, shopping areas and other commercial entities which attract heavy traffic daily. The traffic flow and parking in this area, if properly redesigned, can reduce congestion and unnecessary time – consuming bottlenecks. We cannot continue building multi storey buildings without taking this into consideration.
Editor, I conclude by calling on the PPP/C regime to ACT NOW!!! All lives matter!!!
Yours truly,
Annette Ferguson
Member of Parliament
