By Mark DaCosta- The roads of our nation have once again run red as a devastating weekend of carnage claimed three lives in separate traffic incidents across different regions, exposing the persistent and alarming failure of the current administration to confront the scourge of reckless driving that continues to plague our streets.
The Guyana Police Force has confirmed that between Saturday evening and early Sunday morning, three Guyanese men — Gladwin Dorway, Kempton Forrester, and Kundal Persaud — met their untimely deaths in circumstances that underscore the tragic, untenable, and deeply alarming state of road safety in our country.
The first tragedy unfolded in the early hours of Sunday, July 12, at the junction of Camp and New Market Streets in Georgetown, where 39-year-old Gladwin Dorway of Plaisance, East Coast Demerara, lost his life in a multi-vehicle collision. According to the Guyana Police Force, a motor car bearing registration PNN 832, driven by a 28-year-old woman from South Cummingsburg, was travelling east along New Market Street when it allegedly failed to halt at a stop sign upon reaching the Camp Street intersection.
The vehicle struck motorcycle CP 7083, which was being ridden by a 27-year-old man from Sparendaam, and the force of that impact sent motorcycle CS 441 — ridden by Dorway, who was proceeding north along Camp Street — crashing into the right front side of the car. Both motorcyclists were thrown onto the roadway, sustaining severe injuries. They were rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, where Dorway was pronounced dead. The other rider remains hospitalised. A breathalyser test administered to the female driver returned readings of 0.25 and 0.21 micrograms, and she is presently in police custody assisting with investigations. CCTV footage from the area is being reviewed.
Barely hours earlier, on Saturday evening, 36-year-old Kempton Forrester of the De Kinderen Housing Scheme on the West Coast Demerara was struck down while crossing the De Kinderen Public Road at approximately 18:48 hours. The Guyana Police Force reports that motor car PSS 3141, driven by a 20-year-old man from Boeraserie, was exiting a supermarket parking lot and entering the public road when it collided with Forrester, who was crossing from south to north. The pedestrian sustained grievous injuries to his head and body.
The driver transported him to the De Kinderen Regional Hospital, where he received treatment but later succumbed to his wounds. His body was taken to a Funeral Home. A breathalyser test on the young driver returned readings of six micrograms on both occasions. He too remains under investigation, and CCTV cameras in the vicinity will be examined.
The third fatality occurred on Saturday night along the D’Edward Public Road on the West Bank Berbice, where 77-year-old Kundal Persaud, a shop owner of Lot 51 Bacchus Street in Rosignol Village, was killed when his electric bicycle was struck by motor car PLL 4307. The Guyana Police Force states that the vehicle, driven by a 25-year-old man from Canefield Settlement, East Canje, was travelling west at an alleged speed of between 70 and 80 kilometres per hour when the driver lost control and collided with Persaud, who was travelling east along the southern footpath.
The elderly man was thrown onto the roadway and picked up in an unconscious state by public-spirited citizens and a police officer. He was rushed to the Bath Regional Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. His son, Arnold, told reporters that he found the electric bike lodged beneath the car and alleged that the driver attempted to flee the scene before being stopped by residents, who compelled him to report to the Blairmont Police Station. The driver remains in custody as investigations continue.
These three tragedies, occurring within the span of a single weekend, are not isolated aberrations but rather symptomatic of a far deeper malaise that has gripped our nation’s roadways for years. The Guyana Police Force’s own figures paint a harrowing picture. In 2023, road fatalities reached a critically high level, with approximately 179 deaths recorded across the country. The following year, 2024, saw a marginal improvement — a 14 percent decrease to 154 lives lost.
This downward trajectory continued into 2025, with 124 fatal accidents resulting in 137 deaths, alongside a reduction in overall road accidents from 2,405 in 2024 to 2,177 in 2025. Yet these figures, while ostensibly encouraging, mask a devastating reality: 137 human beings, including six children, perished on our roads in a single year. For a nation of our modest population, this remains an utterly unacceptable toll.
The root causes of this bloodshed are unmistakably human in origin. According to the Guyana Police Force, speeding stands as the foremost killer on our roads, accounting for nearly 90 per cent of all fatal accidents during the first half of 2025 alone. Inattentiveness and pedestrian error compound the danger, while a brazen disregard for elementary safety measures — vehicle occupants failing to fasten seat belts, motorcyclists and pillion riders refusing to wear helmets — transforms survivable collisions into fatal catastrophes. Motorcyclists, in particular, constitute the most vulnerable demographic, with 53 riders losing their lives in 2025, the overwhelming majority of whom were found without helmets at the time of their crashes.
In response to this unrelenting crisis, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Guyana Police Force have rolled out the “Do the Right Thing” public safety campaign and installed speed clocks along major four-lane highways to monitor violations and bolster enforcement. The government has pledged to align with the United Nations’ Road Safety Strategy, targeting a halving of traffic accidents and a reduction in road fatalities to no more than 65 annually by 2030. Yet these initiatives, however well-intentioned, ring hollow against the backdrop of three fresh corpses and grieving families. The gradual decline in fatalities, while statistically noteworthy, does little to comfort those who have buried loved ones.
Our nation deserves better. The families of Gladwin Dorway, Kempton Forrester, and Kundal Persaud deserve justice, not platitudes. The Ministry of Home Affairs must move beyond performative gestures and institute a comprehensive overhaul of traffic enforcement, including stiffer penalties for speeding, drunk-driving, and hit-and-run offences; mandatory helmet laws rigorously applied; and a sustained, visible police presence on our most dangerous corridors.
