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Former Member
Driving in Guyana is very dangerous – US State Dept. - vehicles, pedestrian and animals compete for road space
JULY 7, 2011 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER NEWS
Given the spate of accidents reported in the city, the State Department of the United States of America has concluded that traffic accidents are a major concern in Georgetown, since road and driving conditions are very poor.
In a damning report on crime and safety in Guyana, the State Department said that the local police only sporadically enforce local traffic laws, and local drivers often drive recklessly. But while the US State Department has focused mainly on the capital city, where most of the accidents occur, a significant amount of fatal accidents occur in other parts of the country, especially the interior. So far this year, the Police Traffic Department has recorded 59 fatalities resulting from 57 accidents compared with 55 deaths from 56 accidents for the same period last year.
“Stop signs and traffic signals are often treated as suggestions only,” the State Department report stated, while advising persons to be very cognizant of other cars, large commercial vehicles, minibuses, horse drawn carts, bicycles, mopeds, scooters, motorcycles, stray dogs, sleeping animals, and free range livestock, as they all share narrow, poorly maintained roads. The report pointed to a combination of very aggressive experienced drivers, along with inexperienced, timid drivers makes driving in Guyana especially dangerous. Driving at unsafe speeds, reckless driving, and tailgating, quick stops without signaling, passing at intersections, and passing on crowded streets is commonplace, the report stated.
Additionally, driving at night poses additional concerns as many roads are not lit, drivers frequently do not lower high beam lights, livestock sleep on the road, and many pedestrians congregate by the roadside.
“If you are involved in an accident, you are expected to stay at the scene until the police arrive to take a report, unless there is an imminent threat,” the US State Department advised.
Traffic Chief Neil Semple was unavailable to respond to the State Department observation when this newspaper contacted his office yesterday. However a senior traffic rank said that he agreed with almost all the points raised in the report.
Source
JULY 7, 2011 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER NEWS
Given the spate of accidents reported in the city, the State Department of the United States of America has concluded that traffic accidents are a major concern in Georgetown, since road and driving conditions are very poor.
In a damning report on crime and safety in Guyana, the State Department said that the local police only sporadically enforce local traffic laws, and local drivers often drive recklessly. But while the US State Department has focused mainly on the capital city, where most of the accidents occur, a significant amount of fatal accidents occur in other parts of the country, especially the interior. So far this year, the Police Traffic Department has recorded 59 fatalities resulting from 57 accidents compared with 55 deaths from 56 accidents for the same period last year.
“Stop signs and traffic signals are often treated as suggestions only,” the State Department report stated, while advising persons to be very cognizant of other cars, large commercial vehicles, minibuses, horse drawn carts, bicycles, mopeds, scooters, motorcycles, stray dogs, sleeping animals, and free range livestock, as they all share narrow, poorly maintained roads. The report pointed to a combination of very aggressive experienced drivers, along with inexperienced, timid drivers makes driving in Guyana especially dangerous. Driving at unsafe speeds, reckless driving, and tailgating, quick stops without signaling, passing at intersections, and passing on crowded streets is commonplace, the report stated.
Additionally, driving at night poses additional concerns as many roads are not lit, drivers frequently do not lower high beam lights, livestock sleep on the road, and many pedestrians congregate by the roadside.
“If you are involved in an accident, you are expected to stay at the scene until the police arrive to take a report, unless there is an imminent threat,” the US State Department advised.
Traffic Chief Neil Semple was unavailable to respond to the State Department observation when this newspaper contacted his office yesterday. However a senior traffic rank said that he agreed with almost all the points raised in the report.
Source
Former Member
Motorists should be driving on the left-hand side of the road
By STABROEK STAFF |
LETTERS | TUESDAY, JUNE 14, 2011
Dear Editor,
I was under the impression that according to the laws of Guyana, motorists are required to drive on the left-hand side of the road leaving the right-hand side clear for overtaking vehicles.
There is a disturbing trend that has been developed and is now firmly entrenched in the majority of drivers’ minds that they can cruise on the right-hand side of the road. If a driver wants to overtake, he cannot do so these days in the permitted way but rather is forced to ‘undertake.’ This practice can lead to all manner of accidents and contribute to road rage. It is important that once drivers are driving below the allowable speed limit, they must drive on the left-hand side of the road, and this should be enforced by the police. I have witnessed many times where the police themselves ‘undertake’ to pass, demonstrating an ignorance of the law and contributing to road lawlessness.
We are now also developing a culture of joy drivers who drive the road just for the sake of driving. Some people drive around looking at fancy houses, etc, totally oblivious to other drivers who have serious business to attend to. Perhaps it is time that the authorities consider implementing a law that charges drivers for driving too slowly. If there is a law for driving too fast then there should also be a law for driving too slowly.
This is not an unusual law and can be found in many parts of the world. A driver should be ticketed if they are blocking traffic for no good reason or creating a road hazard. There is a huge economic cost a country suffers if our roadways are impeded due to inconsiderate slow drivers who drive way below the speed limit.
Also, whoever is responsible for authorizing the drawing of double lines on the East Bank Road needs to get their head examined; the logic behind the excessive double lines is simply stupid.
Yours faithfully,
R Persaud
Source
By STABROEK STAFF |
LETTERS | TUESDAY, JUNE 14, 2011
Dear Editor,
I was under the impression that according to the laws of Guyana, motorists are required to drive on the left-hand side of the road leaving the right-hand side clear for overtaking vehicles.
There is a disturbing trend that has been developed and is now firmly entrenched in the majority of drivers’ minds that they can cruise on the right-hand side of the road. If a driver wants to overtake, he cannot do so these days in the permitted way but rather is forced to ‘undertake.’ This practice can lead to all manner of accidents and contribute to road rage. It is important that once drivers are driving below the allowable speed limit, they must drive on the left-hand side of the road, and this should be enforced by the police. I have witnessed many times where the police themselves ‘undertake’ to pass, demonstrating an ignorance of the law and contributing to road lawlessness.
We are now also developing a culture of joy drivers who drive the road just for the sake of driving. Some people drive around looking at fancy houses, etc, totally oblivious to other drivers who have serious business to attend to. Perhaps it is time that the authorities consider implementing a law that charges drivers for driving too slowly. If there is a law for driving too fast then there should also be a law for driving too slowly.
This is not an unusual law and can be found in many parts of the world. A driver should be ticketed if they are blocking traffic for no good reason or creating a road hazard. There is a huge economic cost a country suffers if our roadways are impeded due to inconsiderate slow drivers who drive way below the speed limit.
Also, whoever is responsible for authorizing the drawing of double lines on the East Bank Road needs to get their head examined; the logic behind the excessive double lines is simply stupid.
Yours faithfully,
R Persaud
Source
Former Member
It is hard to do the right thing on the road without getting into conflict with others
By STABROEK STAFF |
LETTERS | THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 2011
Dear Editor,
Under the caption ‘Motorists should drive on the left-hand side of the road,’ (SN, June 14) Mr R Persaud bemoans the fact that an extremely dangerous trend of vehicles passing or overtaking on the left side is being developed.
Indeed, that is an entrenched behaviour which I addressed in a letter exactly five years ago (June 16, 2006). I dare say that since then, the situation has become even worse with the multitude of young drivers on the roads. Back in 2006 I wrote: “…drivers need to be sensitized and educated in the proper use of the four-lane highways and especially advised to desist from undertaking on the two-lane roads, except as in accordance with our Highway Code.”
My submission then was based on my observation that ‘undertaking’ emerged out of the introduction of the four-lane roadways. However, these days it is dangerously done on all classes of roads. ‘Undertaking’ has become so fashionable – even by members of the law enforcement agencies – that some drivers become angry with others who insist on remaining in the left lane thus preventing them from doing the wrong thing.
Editor, it is hard to do the right thing on the road these days without getting into conflict with others, and no matter how often these infractions are drawn to the attention of the so-called competent authorities the chaos continues to grow. Certainly unless there is a major disaster as consequence of this illegal conduct, we will not recognize there is need for immediate remedial action. I hope that by then it is not too late.
Yours faithfully,
Francis Carryl
Source
By STABROEK STAFF |
LETTERS | THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 2011
Dear Editor,
Under the caption ‘Motorists should drive on the left-hand side of the road,’ (SN, June 14) Mr R Persaud bemoans the fact that an extremely dangerous trend of vehicles passing or overtaking on the left side is being developed.
Indeed, that is an entrenched behaviour which I addressed in a letter exactly five years ago (June 16, 2006). I dare say that since then, the situation has become even worse with the multitude of young drivers on the roads. Back in 2006 I wrote: “…drivers need to be sensitized and educated in the proper use of the four-lane highways and especially advised to desist from undertaking on the two-lane roads, except as in accordance with our Highway Code.”
My submission then was based on my observation that ‘undertaking’ emerged out of the introduction of the four-lane roadways. However, these days it is dangerously done on all classes of roads. ‘Undertaking’ has become so fashionable – even by members of the law enforcement agencies – that some drivers become angry with others who insist on remaining in the left lane thus preventing them from doing the wrong thing.
Editor, it is hard to do the right thing on the road these days without getting into conflict with others, and no matter how often these infractions are drawn to the attention of the so-called competent authorities the chaos continues to grow. Certainly unless there is a major disaster as consequence of this illegal conduct, we will not recognize there is need for immediate remedial action. I hope that by then it is not too late.
Yours faithfully,
Francis Carryl
Source
Former Member
Lawlessness on our roads persists because drivers think they can get away with it
By STABROEK STAFF |
LETTERS | THURSDAY, JUNE 23, 2011
Dear Editor,
I write this letter with pain in my heart as as I see the horrific loss of human life on our roads. Within the past days there have been several tragedies involving innocent children mowed down by drivers who act as if our roadways are places for daredevil acts without a care for human life or suffering. The latest incident involves two primary school children who were walking on the D’Edward public road when they were hit by a speeding motorist. The little girl was killed almost instantly while her brother is clinging to life in a city hospital.
According to eyewitnesses this driver was driving at speed in an area where pedestrians, especially school age children, are known to traverse. According to reports this same driver was involved in an accident two years ago as a consequence of which a young lad has been paralysed. My question is why is this driver still driving?
And herein lies my story: the lawlessness on our nation’s roads persists because drivers know that they can get away with it. Many drivers use our roads as if it were a race track and this often results in death or serious injury. Those who administer our roads, ie, the police, are negligent in their duties. They should not wait for an accident to happen; if they see a speeding driver they should charge the culprit and have his vehicle impounded.
Our courts also need to impose stiffer penalties for those who run foul of the law such as imprisonment and a revocation of their driving privileges. Still on this subject, surviving relatives of accident victims need to sue for pain and suffering (similar to the American system) so that they can be awarded substantial damages. I think if these measures are instituted drivers would be more careful on our roads and bring an end to the present carnage.
Yours faithfully,
Neil Adams
Source
By STABROEK STAFF |
LETTERS | THURSDAY, JUNE 23, 2011
Dear Editor,
I write this letter with pain in my heart as as I see the horrific loss of human life on our roads. Within the past days there have been several tragedies involving innocent children mowed down by drivers who act as if our roadways are places for daredevil acts without a care for human life or suffering. The latest incident involves two primary school children who were walking on the D’Edward public road when they were hit by a speeding motorist. The little girl was killed almost instantly while her brother is clinging to life in a city hospital.
According to eyewitnesses this driver was driving at speed in an area where pedestrians, especially school age children, are known to traverse. According to reports this same driver was involved in an accident two years ago as a consequence of which a young lad has been paralysed. My question is why is this driver still driving?
And herein lies my story: the lawlessness on our nation’s roads persists because drivers know that they can get away with it. Many drivers use our roads as if it were a race track and this often results in death or serious injury. Those who administer our roads, ie, the police, are negligent in their duties. They should not wait for an accident to happen; if they see a speeding driver they should charge the culprit and have his vehicle impounded.
Our courts also need to impose stiffer penalties for those who run foul of the law such as imprisonment and a revocation of their driving privileges. Still on this subject, surviving relatives of accident victims need to sue for pain and suffering (similar to the American system) so that they can be awarded substantial damages. I think if these measures are instituted drivers would be more careful on our roads and bring an end to the present carnage.
Yours faithfully,
Neil Adams
Source
Former Member
US report on driving in Guyana is absolutely correct
By STABROEK STAFF |
LETTERS | FRIDAY, JULY 8, 2011
Dear Editor,
The recent US Embassy Overseas Security Advisory Council report on driving in Guyana is absolutely correct. Driving here is a nightmare. I try as much as possible to avoid the downtown core. In my recent (two weeks ago) letter to SN, I pointed out the problems with the East Bank and East Coast passageways due to business and improper parking on the sides of these passageways out of the capital (‘Where are we going? June 23). I cannot in all good conscience refer to these as highways. These are not highways. It doesn’t matter how many lanes this government creates on them. They will not be highways if simple proper administrative steps are not taken to ensure the use of these current passageways as highways.
To add to the report, I would say that:-
1. Most drivers below the age of 30 years old have not been properly trained. They basically obtained their licence by improper means. One clearly sees this in the way they generally drive. This includes (as stated in the report) tailgating, driving at high speeds in congested areas, improper overtaking, not observing stops signs, improper use of lanes and every other possible error.
2. The constant rush to meet the grim reaper is prevalent among the taxi drivers, again, especially if they are below the age of 30 years, as is abusing other considerate road users as though their (the taxi drivers’) way is the correct way of using the road.
3. The police test for alcohol consumption. Isn’t there a way to test for drug consumption? Could they not look at the dilation of the pupil of the eyes initially and then do a blood test? In observing the expression of some of these drivers, one clearly sees the glassy eyes – an indication of some form of being ‘high,’ most likely on drugs. The use of drugs is prevalent in our society.
4. As a local, for me, it is scary to drive. I feel that my life is in danger at all times on the road. I can’t imagine how a foreigner will feel. Basically no rules of the road exist any more.
5. The traffic lights work sporadically. The conversion of two-lane roads into three lanes at traffic lights because of the new traffic-light system creates a danger. It places the newly created third lane, designed to accommodate the traffic light turn signal, right in the path of oncoming traffic in most instances. What we need are just simple four-way stop signals to accommodate our narrow two-lane roads.
Some solutions:-
1. Remove businesses and schools from the main passageways to ensure their use as highways.
2. Remove beggars and mentally ill persons from the roads.
3. Remove stray dogs and other animals from the roads.
4. Charge pedestrians who do not use the pedestrian crossings.
5. Suspend anyone below the age of 30 from driving if they commit a traffic offence until they complete a driver’s training.
6. Institute computer based multiple choice tests for the theory part of the driver’s training. The system must have an audit feature to ensure records are not tampered with.
A lot of these problems are a result of our policy-makers’ focus being misguided. Their focus on building mansions instead of on affairs of state doesn’t help. It all seems so hopeless at times.
Yours faithfully,
Ganesh Singh
Source
By STABROEK STAFF |
LETTERS | FRIDAY, JULY 8, 2011
Dear Editor,
The recent US Embassy Overseas Security Advisory Council report on driving in Guyana is absolutely correct. Driving here is a nightmare. I try as much as possible to avoid the downtown core. In my recent (two weeks ago) letter to SN, I pointed out the problems with the East Bank and East Coast passageways due to business and improper parking on the sides of these passageways out of the capital (‘Where are we going? June 23). I cannot in all good conscience refer to these as highways. These are not highways. It doesn’t matter how many lanes this government creates on them. They will not be highways if simple proper administrative steps are not taken to ensure the use of these current passageways as highways.
To add to the report, I would say that:-
1. Most drivers below the age of 30 years old have not been properly trained. They basically obtained their licence by improper means. One clearly sees this in the way they generally drive. This includes (as stated in the report) tailgating, driving at high speeds in congested areas, improper overtaking, not observing stops signs, improper use of lanes and every other possible error.
2. The constant rush to meet the grim reaper is prevalent among the taxi drivers, again, especially if they are below the age of 30 years, as is abusing other considerate road users as though their (the taxi drivers’) way is the correct way of using the road.
3. The police test for alcohol consumption. Isn’t there a way to test for drug consumption? Could they not look at the dilation of the pupil of the eyes initially and then do a blood test? In observing the expression of some of these drivers, one clearly sees the glassy eyes – an indication of some form of being ‘high,’ most likely on drugs. The use of drugs is prevalent in our society.
4. As a local, for me, it is scary to drive. I feel that my life is in danger at all times on the road. I can’t imagine how a foreigner will feel. Basically no rules of the road exist any more.
5. The traffic lights work sporadically. The conversion of two-lane roads into three lanes at traffic lights because of the new traffic-light system creates a danger. It places the newly created third lane, designed to accommodate the traffic light turn signal, right in the path of oncoming traffic in most instances. What we need are just simple four-way stop signals to accommodate our narrow two-lane roads.
Some solutions:-
1. Remove businesses and schools from the main passageways to ensure their use as highways.
2. Remove beggars and mentally ill persons from the roads.
3. Remove stray dogs and other animals from the roads.
4. Charge pedestrians who do not use the pedestrian crossings.
5. Suspend anyone below the age of 30 from driving if they commit a traffic offence until they complete a driver’s training.
6. Institute computer based multiple choice tests for the theory part of the driver’s training. The system must have an audit feature to ensure records are not tampered with.
A lot of these problems are a result of our policy-makers’ focus being misguided. Their focus on building mansions instead of on affairs of state doesn’t help. It all seems so hopeless at times.
Yours faithfully,
Ganesh Singh
Source
Former Member
Reflectors on the West Coast Berbice road have been broken up by heavy trucks
By STABROEK STAFF |
LETTERS | SATURDAY, JULY 9, 2011
Dear Editor,
I live in West Coast Berbice, and I wrote about the area where I live some years ago when the government built a road with the yellow line in the middle and reflectors, and white lines on both sides with reflectors. This showed up the walkway on both sides for pedestrians; what a beautiful sight when you were driving in the night.
Today, with heavy trucks driving on the road all these reflectors have been broken up, and in some places there is no yellow line in the middle or white lines on both sides of the road – the road is one. These lines serve as a guide to drivers of vehicles, and since drivers pay a road licence, they should be fully protected and know when they are on the right side of the law in cases where there is accident. With speeding vehicles, drivers have no respect for the road since there is no lane.
Look at the pedestrian crossing at Bush Lot Village, West Coast Berbice? The white paint can be hardly seen, and instead of walking on the crossing, hundreds of schoolchildren run across the road to catch mini-buses to go home amid speeding vehicles. This will end up in a serious accident some day; it needs a police presence every afternoon at this junction.
The government also has to do something about unbranded cows and horses on the public road. In places like Pln Brahan where there is a dangerous turn and the Fort Wellington public road where there is a police station, dozens of cows can be seen on the road. The Minister of Home Affairs should get the police from Fort Wellington and Weldaad police station to impound these animals, or else get rangers from the MMA ADA to do it. The same animals that roam on the road day and night are the same ones destroying farmers’ crops in the MMA project where farmers have to pay drainage and irrigation charges.
Yours faithfully,
Rudolph Singh
Sourcce
By STABROEK STAFF |
LETTERS | SATURDAY, JULY 9, 2011
Dear Editor,
I live in West Coast Berbice, and I wrote about the area where I live some years ago when the government built a road with the yellow line in the middle and reflectors, and white lines on both sides with reflectors. This showed up the walkway on both sides for pedestrians; what a beautiful sight when you were driving in the night.
Today, with heavy trucks driving on the road all these reflectors have been broken up, and in some places there is no yellow line in the middle or white lines on both sides of the road – the road is one. These lines serve as a guide to drivers of vehicles, and since drivers pay a road licence, they should be fully protected and know when they are on the right side of the law in cases where there is accident. With speeding vehicles, drivers have no respect for the road since there is no lane.
Look at the pedestrian crossing at Bush Lot Village, West Coast Berbice? The white paint can be hardly seen, and instead of walking on the crossing, hundreds of schoolchildren run across the road to catch mini-buses to go home amid speeding vehicles. This will end up in a serious accident some day; it needs a police presence every afternoon at this junction.
The government also has to do something about unbranded cows and horses on the public road. In places like Pln Brahan where there is a dangerous turn and the Fort Wellington public road where there is a police station, dozens of cows can be seen on the road. The Minister of Home Affairs should get the police from Fort Wellington and Weldaad police station to impound these animals, or else get rangers from the MMA ADA to do it. The same animals that roam on the road day and night are the same ones destroying farmers’ crops in the MMA project where farmers have to pay drainage and irrigation charges.
Yours faithfully,
Rudolph Singh
Sourcce
Former Member
Fatal road accidents still a great distress
AUGUST 7, 2008 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER LETTERS
Dear Editor,
The increase in the number of fatal road accidents is still a great distress to our country as it further reduces the already low population numbers we have here in Guyana (a population also being even more sadly and alarmingly reduced by an apparently ever-increasing murder rate, but that’s another horror story). The recent accident with the cement truck is an example of the indiscipline which is now endemic in our society.
Residents report there was indeed a sign indicating the bridge was in a serious state of disrepair and so could not take the weight of heavy duty vehicles but someone, for whatever twisted, selfish reason, removed the sign and now a whole community is terribly inconvenienced and what is horribly much worse, one man is dead and another seriously injured. The bridge connecting Bagotstown to Republic Park was vandalized some time ago when a selfish, similarly uncaring individual deliberately broke off the cross-piece (over the top of the bridge) which prevented the access of larger, heavy vehicles; another example of indiscipline, selfishness and total disregard for the dangers which could result.
We see several other disgusting signs of this gross indiscipline in the way many drivers use the road. Maybe this is because so many of them have “bought” their licences or they are just plain uncouth, selfish, you name it. Few give way when the obstruction is on their side and if they can jump a red light or major road, all the better. As for the blinking green arrow lights for turning traffic, most drivers seem not to know or care that they should yield to the traffic which has the “solid” green light on the straight-way and if you are in front and stop they have a jolly time getting angry at you and sounding their useless noisy horns. Some traffic lights seem to be confusing for some drivers.
Case in point, the traffic going north on Vlissengen Road and turning right into Homestretch Avenue – many drivers seem to feel they can go ahead and turn when the straight arrow turns green and they seem unaware (or do not care) that the traffic traveling south also has the green light.
A similar situation occurs at Sheriff and Duncan Streets. At this intersection, many drivers going north on Sheriff Street do not seem to realise that if you are not turning right into Duncan Street you should go in the left/westerly lane.
Another problem occurs at the Vlissengen/North Road intersection where mini-buses particularly (trying to avoid the traffic lights in part of Regent Street) “bore” their way into the line of traffic, breaking the line to jump the light and get onto North Road. The traffic light at this same intersection also confuses drivers turning right into North Road as there is a period when it goes blank, then the red light comes on and then the turning arrow. The traffic department needs to look at this and correct it.
I also have a grouse with drivers who park blocking the free flow of traffic on the approach to traffic lights, and moreso if you have to turn and you go into the relevant lane only to be blocked by the car of some selfish idiot and don’t expect them to move if they are at the wheel.
The road where this occurs most is on North Road at the Camp Street intersection; cars park on both sides of the road and some even park diagonally right up to the light (whatever happened to 30 feet from the corner????). Cummings Street (the southern section of the intersection with Middle Street) is another where this occurs and also on Cummings Street at both halves of the intersection with Regent Street. This problem is also encountered by drivers turning left from Sheriff Street into Campbell Avenue. These are just a few.
Another major nuisance is the driver who feels he’s better than any other and so cannot join the line at a traffic light and wait his turn, so he either goes into the turning lane (thus rudely and illegally blocking the access to this facility of any driver who wants to turn) or dangerously jumps the line, having gauged the length of time left on the counter. Minibus drivers are the major defaulters in this regard but many private car drivers are also guilty. Recently a minibus ended up in a trench after a serious accident was caused by the road-hog-of-a-driver trying to jump the line.
The police need to be more vigilant and deal with these errant drivers as many of them see it as a challenge to break the law and have no regard for the serious danger they pose to people’s lives. Maybe some donor agency should consider funding cameras at major intersections so that the vehicles can be identified and the drivers brought to book. My sympathy goes out to the relatives of those who have died in these fatal road accidents.
The new law, re the two-beer limit is good but we need to copy the USA and stress the need for designated drivers and friends need to ensure that their drivers are sober or refuse to travel with them. We need to be our brother’s keeper in order to save him and possibly several others. We all need to take more care and be more considerate and please do not drink (or do drugs) when you have the responsibility of driving a vehicle because you then become a lethal weapon and you may kill not only yourself but also many others.
Paula Alexander
Source
AUGUST 7, 2008 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER LETTERS
Dear Editor,
The increase in the number of fatal road accidents is still a great distress to our country as it further reduces the already low population numbers we have here in Guyana (a population also being even more sadly and alarmingly reduced by an apparently ever-increasing murder rate, but that’s another horror story). The recent accident with the cement truck is an example of the indiscipline which is now endemic in our society.
Residents report there was indeed a sign indicating the bridge was in a serious state of disrepair and so could not take the weight of heavy duty vehicles but someone, for whatever twisted, selfish reason, removed the sign and now a whole community is terribly inconvenienced and what is horribly much worse, one man is dead and another seriously injured. The bridge connecting Bagotstown to Republic Park was vandalized some time ago when a selfish, similarly uncaring individual deliberately broke off the cross-piece (over the top of the bridge) which prevented the access of larger, heavy vehicles; another example of indiscipline, selfishness and total disregard for the dangers which could result.
We see several other disgusting signs of this gross indiscipline in the way many drivers use the road. Maybe this is because so many of them have “bought” their licences or they are just plain uncouth, selfish, you name it. Few give way when the obstruction is on their side and if they can jump a red light or major road, all the better. As for the blinking green arrow lights for turning traffic, most drivers seem not to know or care that they should yield to the traffic which has the “solid” green light on the straight-way and if you are in front and stop they have a jolly time getting angry at you and sounding their useless noisy horns. Some traffic lights seem to be confusing for some drivers.
Case in point, the traffic going north on Vlissengen Road and turning right into Homestretch Avenue – many drivers seem to feel they can go ahead and turn when the straight arrow turns green and they seem unaware (or do not care) that the traffic traveling south also has the green light.
A similar situation occurs at Sheriff and Duncan Streets. At this intersection, many drivers going north on Sheriff Street do not seem to realise that if you are not turning right into Duncan Street you should go in the left/westerly lane.
Another problem occurs at the Vlissengen/North Road intersection where mini-buses particularly (trying to avoid the traffic lights in part of Regent Street) “bore” their way into the line of traffic, breaking the line to jump the light and get onto North Road. The traffic light at this same intersection also confuses drivers turning right into North Road as there is a period when it goes blank, then the red light comes on and then the turning arrow. The traffic department needs to look at this and correct it.
I also have a grouse with drivers who park blocking the free flow of traffic on the approach to traffic lights, and moreso if you have to turn and you go into the relevant lane only to be blocked by the car of some selfish idiot and don’t expect them to move if they are at the wheel.
The road where this occurs most is on North Road at the Camp Street intersection; cars park on both sides of the road and some even park diagonally right up to the light (whatever happened to 30 feet from the corner????). Cummings Street (the southern section of the intersection with Middle Street) is another where this occurs and also on Cummings Street at both halves of the intersection with Regent Street. This problem is also encountered by drivers turning left from Sheriff Street into Campbell Avenue. These are just a few.
Another major nuisance is the driver who feels he’s better than any other and so cannot join the line at a traffic light and wait his turn, so he either goes into the turning lane (thus rudely and illegally blocking the access to this facility of any driver who wants to turn) or dangerously jumps the line, having gauged the length of time left on the counter. Minibus drivers are the major defaulters in this regard but many private car drivers are also guilty. Recently a minibus ended up in a trench after a serious accident was caused by the road-hog-of-a-driver trying to jump the line.
The police need to be more vigilant and deal with these errant drivers as many of them see it as a challenge to break the law and have no regard for the serious danger they pose to people’s lives. Maybe some donor agency should consider funding cameras at major intersections so that the vehicles can be identified and the drivers brought to book. My sympathy goes out to the relatives of those who have died in these fatal road accidents.
The new law, re the two-beer limit is good but we need to copy the USA and stress the need for designated drivers and friends need to ensure that their drivers are sober or refuse to travel with them. We need to be our brother’s keeper in order to save him and possibly several others. We all need to take more care and be more considerate and please do not drink (or do drugs) when you have the responsibility of driving a vehicle because you then become a lethal weapon and you may kill not only yourself but also many others.
Paula Alexander
Source
Former Member
Many of the points in Ms Alexander's letter written in 2008, are echoed in my piece in 2011. So much for progress.
Former Member
There are too many drivers on the road who have not taken the driving test
By STABROEK STAFF |
LETTERS | TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2010
Dear Editor,
The spate of road fatalities is alarming, to say the least. We all know that there are a number of drivers on our roads who did not take the driving test in order to obtain a driver’s licence. We also know that many traffic cops are corrupt, and that there are civilians who wield authority over certain traffic cops even though in an informal way.
There is also a proliferation of new vehicles which are owned by first-time drivers, some of whom never went through a driving test. Driving is much more than steering a vehicle. It has to do with concentration, judgment, consideration, anticipation, courtesy, discipline and common sense, among other attributes. We have a great number of undisciplined drivers on our roads today. We have a great number of impatient drivers on our roads too. The minibuses always seems to be in a hurry to get their destinations.
Two letters in the press are worthy of mention, one of which dealt with the incorrect ways in which drivers use the roads. This is so true, and I would like to add that some drivers do not stop in the corner to put off or take in a passenger, but in the driving lane which sometimes results in a traffic build-up. The other letter suggested charging the passengers along with the conductor of an overloaded minibus. This kind of recommendation tells of the frustration of the writer, as nothing else seems to work.
All in all, our roads are not becoming safer but more dangerous because of the quality of drivers who are unleashed by some people who should know better from their motto of ‘Service and Protection.’
Yours faithfully,
(Name and address provided)
Source
By STABROEK STAFF |
LETTERS | TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2010
Dear Editor,
The spate of road fatalities is alarming, to say the least. We all know that there are a number of drivers on our roads who did not take the driving test in order to obtain a driver’s licence. We also know that many traffic cops are corrupt, and that there are civilians who wield authority over certain traffic cops even though in an informal way.
There is also a proliferation of new vehicles which are owned by first-time drivers, some of whom never went through a driving test. Driving is much more than steering a vehicle. It has to do with concentration, judgment, consideration, anticipation, courtesy, discipline and common sense, among other attributes. We have a great number of undisciplined drivers on our roads today. We have a great number of impatient drivers on our roads too. The minibuses always seems to be in a hurry to get their destinations.
Two letters in the press are worthy of mention, one of which dealt with the incorrect ways in which drivers use the roads. This is so true, and I would like to add that some drivers do not stop in the corner to put off or take in a passenger, but in the driving lane which sometimes results in a traffic build-up. The other letter suggested charging the passengers along with the conductor of an overloaded minibus. This kind of recommendation tells of the frustration of the writer, as nothing else seems to work.
All in all, our roads are not becoming safer but more dangerous because of the quality of drivers who are unleashed by some people who should know better from their motto of ‘Service and Protection.’
Yours faithfully,
(Name and address provided)
Source
TK_REDUX (Guest)
Gerhard,
If they implement these things you proposed many lives will be saved. These make so much sense. Hope early next year we will be in a position of influence to implement them.
If they implement these things you proposed many lives will be saved. These make so much sense. Hope early next year we will be in a position of influence to implement them.
Former Member
Thanks bro. An AFC Gov't is only a matter of time, one in which you will be a part of, and make the lives of our countrymen betterquote:Originally posted by TK_REDUX:
Gerhard,
If they implement these things you proposed many lives will be saved. These make so much sense. Hope early next year we will be in a position of influence to implement them.
Former Member
Let me offer my congratulations to you Gerhard, on what seems a well thought out plan with details.
I would like to suggest also, that while the Guyana Police Force retain law enforcement control over this sector e.g giving traffic violation tickets, etc. that administrative control of traffic, i.e laws, vehicle fitness licences, other licences, signage, markings etc all come under a resusitated Ministry of Transportation which ministry could also be coupled with Works, Roads etc. Just my two cents.
I would like to suggest also, that while the Guyana Police Force retain law enforcement control over this sector e.g giving traffic violation tickets, etc. that administrative control of traffic, i.e laws, vehicle fitness licences, other licences, signage, markings etc all come under a resusitated Ministry of Transportation which ministry could also be coupled with Works, Roads etc. Just my two cents.
Former Member
Thank you very much squingyquote:Originally posted by squingy:
Let me offer my congratulations to you Gerhard, on what seems a well thought out plan with details.
I would like to suggest also, that while the Guyana Police Force retain law enforcement control over this sector e.g giving traffic violation tickets, etc. that administrative control of traffic, i.e laws, vehicle fitness licences, other licences, signage, markings etc all come under a resusitated Ministry of Transportation which ministry could also be coupled with Works, Roads etc. Just my two cents.
I agree with you 100%, the administrative duties of the police need to be lessened. They do need to focus as much as possible on law enforcement instead. And a wide ranging Ministry of Transportation as you've suggested, would definitely fit into the AFC plan of reducing Ministries.
Former Member
Victims left with permanent scars
JULY 11, 2011 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER NEWS
By Leon Suseran
The eight-year-old boy who survived the fatal accident that took the life of his sister has been experiencing excruciating pains, and may not be able to walk again for a very long time.
Paralysed eight-year-old Vijai Ramnauth spends the entire day in bed; his mom and dad, Anirud holds up a picture of his dead daughter.
According to the boy’s mother Tasha Ramnauth, the family wants justice to ensure that the driver of the car never repeats his carless actions again. The man, Mahendra Ramanan, called Bangat, 36, of Number Two Village, West Coast Berbice, allegedly drove motor car PMM 8812 in a dangerous manner, causing the death of nine-year-old Jaswattie Ramnauth, on June 20. Her brother Vijai Ramnauth remains temporarily paralysed.
The children were pupils of the Cotton Tree Primary School and were in the process of writing end of term examinations when the accident occurred.
They were on their way home at about 08:25 hrs after they were told by teachers that they were not required at school in the morning, since exams were to be written only during the afternoon session. The car, which was speeding, careened off the West Berbice Public Road, hitting the two children before crashing into a concrete fence. The children were knocked some distance away as a result of the heavy impact. The girl died on the spot while the boy sustained broken limbs and head injuries. He was whisked away to the Georgetown Hospital.
When Kaieteur News visited the survivor at his home at Lot 15 Ketting Dam, D’ Edward, West Coast Berbice recently, Vijai Ramnauth was resting in a bed in the ‘bottom house’, wearing a neck brace and with his left leg in cast. He did not get to complete his examinations in school and is pretty uncertain about what will happen to his dream—like any other eight-year-old—of getting an education. “He’s coming around but it will take time because a lot of pain. In the night, he screams for his belly, sometimes his feet,” his mother said. “With a knock like that, you gotta expect pain.”
The boy is receiving medical attention from two medical clinics at the Georgetown Public Hospital and the family related that every trip to the city hospital takes a hard financial toll on them. They have to pay for the entire back seat of cars for each trip to the city since the boy’s injured leg has to be in a comfortable position. “Them people this put me in a lot of expense and left me, and me never see one of them. Is till in the corner them pick them children this up and just kill one and left one sick and not one of them has the manners to come,” she pointed out. “He bruk she [Jaswattie] up like biscuit.” She said neither the driver nor his family visited the family to extend sympathies or check on concerns for the injured boy. Ramnauth added that the accident has resulted in her son becoming “a baby all over again.”
Kellawattie Ragunandan with her paralytic son, Satesh
The same driver also hit 12-year-old Sateshwar Ragunandan with the car in 2009, resulting in the boy becoming paralyzed. His mother, Kellawattie Ragunandan, said that she too wants justice. The accident, she said, has left permanent ‘scars’ which are still evident to this day. “He can’t do anything for himself; he can’t walk properly; he can’t even eat. He never went back to school. He could stay just so and get a ‘shut- down’ with he brain. He doesn’t have any balance in his body. He receives treatment from Bone Specialist and Therapy in Georgetown. I need justice, because he always drunk and drive, he never sober. He got away when he knock this boy down too, and he say [he hit] dog,” the woman said. Ramanan had offered $300,000 to Ragunandan in 2009 to settle the matter.
The Ramnauths stated that they have not ruled out accepting a settlement from the driver for the matter and “would like to meet with the family”.
Ramnauth, who escaped from the scene of the June, 2011 accident and surrendered to Blairmont Police a day later, appeared before Magistrate Adela Nagamootoo, charged with three counts: driving in a dangerous manner thus causing the death of nine-year-old Jaswattie Ramnauth; the second, on the said day, place and time he failed to render assistance to Jaswattie Ramnauth or to take her to a recognized medical practitioner; and that after being involved in an accident he failed to report the said accident to the nearest police station or to a police constable within 24 hours.
He will return to court on July 11.
Source
JULY 11, 2011 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER NEWS
By Leon Suseran
The eight-year-old boy who survived the fatal accident that took the life of his sister has been experiencing excruciating pains, and may not be able to walk again for a very long time.
Paralysed eight-year-old Vijai Ramnauth spends the entire day in bed; his mom and dad, Anirud holds up a picture of his dead daughter.
According to the boy’s mother Tasha Ramnauth, the family wants justice to ensure that the driver of the car never repeats his carless actions again. The man, Mahendra Ramanan, called Bangat, 36, of Number Two Village, West Coast Berbice, allegedly drove motor car PMM 8812 in a dangerous manner, causing the death of nine-year-old Jaswattie Ramnauth, on June 20. Her brother Vijai Ramnauth remains temporarily paralysed.
The children were pupils of the Cotton Tree Primary School and were in the process of writing end of term examinations when the accident occurred.
They were on their way home at about 08:25 hrs after they were told by teachers that they were not required at school in the morning, since exams were to be written only during the afternoon session. The car, which was speeding, careened off the West Berbice Public Road, hitting the two children before crashing into a concrete fence. The children were knocked some distance away as a result of the heavy impact. The girl died on the spot while the boy sustained broken limbs and head injuries. He was whisked away to the Georgetown Hospital.
When Kaieteur News visited the survivor at his home at Lot 15 Ketting Dam, D’ Edward, West Coast Berbice recently, Vijai Ramnauth was resting in a bed in the ‘bottom house’, wearing a neck brace and with his left leg in cast. He did not get to complete his examinations in school and is pretty uncertain about what will happen to his dream—like any other eight-year-old—of getting an education. “He’s coming around but it will take time because a lot of pain. In the night, he screams for his belly, sometimes his feet,” his mother said. “With a knock like that, you gotta expect pain.”
The boy is receiving medical attention from two medical clinics at the Georgetown Public Hospital and the family related that every trip to the city hospital takes a hard financial toll on them. They have to pay for the entire back seat of cars for each trip to the city since the boy’s injured leg has to be in a comfortable position. “Them people this put me in a lot of expense and left me, and me never see one of them. Is till in the corner them pick them children this up and just kill one and left one sick and not one of them has the manners to come,” she pointed out. “He bruk she [Jaswattie] up like biscuit.” She said neither the driver nor his family visited the family to extend sympathies or check on concerns for the injured boy. Ramnauth added that the accident has resulted in her son becoming “a baby all over again.”
Kellawattie Ragunandan with her paralytic son, Satesh
The same driver also hit 12-year-old Sateshwar Ragunandan with the car in 2009, resulting in the boy becoming paralyzed. His mother, Kellawattie Ragunandan, said that she too wants justice. The accident, she said, has left permanent ‘scars’ which are still evident to this day. “He can’t do anything for himself; he can’t walk properly; he can’t even eat. He never went back to school. He could stay just so and get a ‘shut- down’ with he brain. He doesn’t have any balance in his body. He receives treatment from Bone Specialist and Therapy in Georgetown. I need justice, because he always drunk and drive, he never sober. He got away when he knock this boy down too, and he say [he hit] dog,” the woman said. Ramanan had offered $300,000 to Ragunandan in 2009 to settle the matter.
The Ramnauths stated that they have not ruled out accepting a settlement from the driver for the matter and “would like to meet with the family”.
Ramnauth, who escaped from the scene of the June, 2011 accident and surrendered to Blairmont Police a day later, appeared before Magistrate Adela Nagamootoo, charged with three counts: driving in a dangerous manner thus causing the death of nine-year-old Jaswattie Ramnauth; the second, on the said day, place and time he failed to render assistance to Jaswattie Ramnauth or to take her to a recognized medical practitioner; and that after being involved in an accident he failed to report the said accident to the nearest police station or to a police constable within 24 hours.
He will return to court on July 11.
Source
Former Member
I wonder if it is proven that the driver who maimed and killed these children got his licence fraudulently if the state can be sued...
Former Member
Drivers at the mercy of traffic police
By STABROEK STAFF | LETTERS | MONDAY, JULY 18, 2011
Dear Editor,
Kindly allow me to ventilate what is quickly becoming an epic in Guyana, if it already isn’t.
I have been a licensed driver for three years now. I have my own vehicle and I work at a bank in Georgetown. More particularly over the past year, I am being stopped at least three times a week, put to wait about 20 minutes while the Police stop other vehicles and line them up, then they come back to me and ask for my documents.
In my discussion with other drivers, the following frightening picture appears:
1. Drivers are being instructed to take their vehicles to the Station and are not being told why.
2. Drivers are put to sit “on the bench” and the arresting rank disappears for hours. And when you try to enquire from other ranks at the Station, you are very rudely told to “shut up and wait”.
3. It seems that whatever “raise” is made is shared between a few ranks. So it is difficult to get satisfaction from the Station Officer who may be part of the take.
4. If there should be a prize for callousness and discourtesy, the Police Force will win it easily. There are extremely few Police Officers who show any regard for the ordinary citizen. Their main aim seems to be to make a raise every time they stop somebody. Instead of looking to the Police for “service and protection”, you now expect them to shake you down.
5. Black clothes policemen set up road blocks by putting their vehicles in the middle of the road and they stop vehicles and ask for Driver’s licence, etc. very often, these road blocks are not near to Police Stations and people are scared, because these “black clothes” can well be bandits.
6. Then there are these police with speed guns who show you a reading way higher than the rate at which you were travelling. I am sure that they do not clear the gun after they had taken a high reading of a previous vehicle.
Editor, don’t take my word for it. Put it to the test. And if Mr Greene doubts it, let him set up decoys and he will be shocked.
Yours faithfully,
Robert Seemangal
Source
By STABROEK STAFF | LETTERS | MONDAY, JULY 18, 2011
Dear Editor,
Kindly allow me to ventilate what is quickly becoming an epic in Guyana, if it already isn’t.
I have been a licensed driver for three years now. I have my own vehicle and I work at a bank in Georgetown. More particularly over the past year, I am being stopped at least three times a week, put to wait about 20 minutes while the Police stop other vehicles and line them up, then they come back to me and ask for my documents.
In my discussion with other drivers, the following frightening picture appears:
1. Drivers are being instructed to take their vehicles to the Station and are not being told why.
2. Drivers are put to sit “on the bench” and the arresting rank disappears for hours. And when you try to enquire from other ranks at the Station, you are very rudely told to “shut up and wait”.
3. It seems that whatever “raise” is made is shared between a few ranks. So it is difficult to get satisfaction from the Station Officer who may be part of the take.
4. If there should be a prize for callousness and discourtesy, the Police Force will win it easily. There are extremely few Police Officers who show any regard for the ordinary citizen. Their main aim seems to be to make a raise every time they stop somebody. Instead of looking to the Police for “service and protection”, you now expect them to shake you down.
5. Black clothes policemen set up road blocks by putting their vehicles in the middle of the road and they stop vehicles and ask for Driver’s licence, etc. very often, these road blocks are not near to Police Stations and people are scared, because these “black clothes” can well be bandits.
6. Then there are these police with speed guns who show you a reading way higher than the rate at which you were travelling. I am sure that they do not clear the gun after they had taken a high reading of a previous vehicle.
Editor, don’t take my word for it. Put it to the test. And if Mr Greene doubts it, let him set up decoys and he will be shocked.
Yours faithfully,
Robert Seemangal
Source
Former Member
Cop dies after run over by truck at accident scene
By ALVA SOLOMON | LOCAL NEWS | MONDAY, JULY 18, 2011
A policeman who was at the scene of an early morning accident at Bartica was pronounced dead on arrival at the Bartica Hospital after he was run over by a speeding truck. According to reports, Constable Leonard Forde, said to be in his early 20s, who resides in the city and who was attached to the offices of the Guyana Gold Board at Bartica, was standing close to the scene of an accident at Third Avenue in Bartica around 3 am when he was run over by a speeding truck bearing registration no. GNN 5940. Bartica resident Devina Heeraman and her father Heeraman Lall sustained injuries in the two accidents and were transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital yesterday where the latter was admitted for injuries he sustained to the head and feet. Devina was treated for minor injuries and sent away.
This taxi was involved in an accident along Third Avenue, Bartica after which police officer Leonard Forde died in a subsequent accident.
Both accidents occurred close to a taxi service in the area. An employee at the taxi service recounted that around 2 am yesterday two yellow cabs which were proceeding in opposite directions along Third Avenue, collided. She said that the occupants of both cars sustained minor injuries, adding that Devina was in one of the cars at the time of the accident. The employee noted that close to half of an hour later, the police officer arrived at the scene to investigate the incident and she noted that a “medium size” crowd had gathered at the scene by this time. She noted that a ‘bush truck’ on Third Avenue, which was heading into the backdam area, was speeding up the roadway when persons raised an alarm about the rate at which it was being driven.
The truck which was involved in the accident
She said that the truck driver jumped a stop sign close to an intersection along Third Avenue and slammed into a white car which was heading in the opposite direction. The eyewitness noted that the truck took a while before it came to a halt at the side of the road in a nearby trench and persons noticed that the policeman’s motorcycle was damaged by the heavy vehicle. She said that “is a little while after that we realize he wasn’t at the scene and somebody seh look a man deh up under the truck over one of the wheels”. The woman noted that Forde sustained massive head injuries and was later rushed to the Bartica Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. The young man was expected to travel to the city today to spend his off-duty days with his family.
The driver of the truck and the other vehicles which were involved in the two accidents were later taken to the Bartica Police Station.
Source
By ALVA SOLOMON | LOCAL NEWS | MONDAY, JULY 18, 2011
A policeman who was at the scene of an early morning accident at Bartica was pronounced dead on arrival at the Bartica Hospital after he was run over by a speeding truck. According to reports, Constable Leonard Forde, said to be in his early 20s, who resides in the city and who was attached to the offices of the Guyana Gold Board at Bartica, was standing close to the scene of an accident at Third Avenue in Bartica around 3 am when he was run over by a speeding truck bearing registration no. GNN 5940. Bartica resident Devina Heeraman and her father Heeraman Lall sustained injuries in the two accidents and were transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital yesterday where the latter was admitted for injuries he sustained to the head and feet. Devina was treated for minor injuries and sent away.
This taxi was involved in an accident along Third Avenue, Bartica after which police officer Leonard Forde died in a subsequent accident.
Both accidents occurred close to a taxi service in the area. An employee at the taxi service recounted that around 2 am yesterday two yellow cabs which were proceeding in opposite directions along Third Avenue, collided. She said that the occupants of both cars sustained minor injuries, adding that Devina was in one of the cars at the time of the accident. The employee noted that close to half of an hour later, the police officer arrived at the scene to investigate the incident and she noted that a “medium size” crowd had gathered at the scene by this time. She noted that a ‘bush truck’ on Third Avenue, which was heading into the backdam area, was speeding up the roadway when persons raised an alarm about the rate at which it was being driven.
The truck which was involved in the accident
She said that the truck driver jumped a stop sign close to an intersection along Third Avenue and slammed into a white car which was heading in the opposite direction. The eyewitness noted that the truck took a while before it came to a halt at the side of the road in a nearby trench and persons noticed that the policeman’s motorcycle was damaged by the heavy vehicle. She said that “is a little while after that we realize he wasn’t at the scene and somebody seh look a man deh up under the truck over one of the wheels”. The woman noted that Forde sustained massive head injuries and was later rushed to the Bartica Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. The young man was expected to travel to the city today to spend his off-duty days with his family.
The driver of the truck and the other vehicles which were involved in the two accidents were later taken to the Bartica Police Station.
Source
Former Member
East Ruimveldt chauffeur dies after Durban St accident
By STABROEK STAFF | LOCAL NEWS | MONDAY, JULY 18, 2011 Updated: 12:37 pm
The 62-year-old man who was struck down yesterday in Werk-en-Rust as he cycled to the market died this morning at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH). According to reports, chauffeur Eustace Rodrigues, a father of 15 of Lot 429, East Ruimveldt was riding his bicycle along Lime Street in the city when he was struck down by a speeding car, a Honda Passo sedan bearing licence plate HB 9588 which was being driven by a female. He sustained multiple injuries to the body including head injuries, a broken shoulder, broken ribs and both his feet were said to be fractured.
Eustace Rodrigues
The man’s grieving wife Vesta Rodrigues told this newspaper yesterday that she was at home around 7 am yesterday when she received a call from a medical staffer at the GPH. The caller informed her that her husband was involved in an accident and that she should visit the hospital. The woman, who is employed at the GPH, noted that when she arrived at the medical institution, her husband lay unconscious and was bleeding through his nose as doctors attempted to resuscitate him. She said the doctors noted that her husband sustained severe head injuries and he was later admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU)where he was hooked up to a life support machine. She told Stabroek News this morning that her husband passed away around 1.30 am today. The woman recounted that her husband left their home around 6:45 yesterday morning for Bourda Market and she noted that some 15 minutes later she was informed of the accident.
Reports are that Rodrigues was heading along Lime Street and was waiting to cross D’Urban Street when the speeding taxi which was proceeding along D’Urban Street, struck him down. He was picked up by the woman and taken to the GPHC. Relatives were upset that the woman was released on station bail. They noted that they will pursue the matter to ensure that the driver does not escape the incident lightly.
Source
By STABROEK STAFF | LOCAL NEWS | MONDAY, JULY 18, 2011 Updated: 12:37 pm
The 62-year-old man who was struck down yesterday in Werk-en-Rust as he cycled to the market died this morning at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH). According to reports, chauffeur Eustace Rodrigues, a father of 15 of Lot 429, East Ruimveldt was riding his bicycle along Lime Street in the city when he was struck down by a speeding car, a Honda Passo sedan bearing licence plate HB 9588 which was being driven by a female. He sustained multiple injuries to the body including head injuries, a broken shoulder, broken ribs and both his feet were said to be fractured.
Eustace Rodrigues
The man’s grieving wife Vesta Rodrigues told this newspaper yesterday that she was at home around 7 am yesterday when she received a call from a medical staffer at the GPH. The caller informed her that her husband was involved in an accident and that she should visit the hospital. The woman, who is employed at the GPH, noted that when she arrived at the medical institution, her husband lay unconscious and was bleeding through his nose as doctors attempted to resuscitate him. She said the doctors noted that her husband sustained severe head injuries and he was later admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU)where he was hooked up to a life support machine. She told Stabroek News this morning that her husband passed away around 1.30 am today. The woman recounted that her husband left their home around 6:45 yesterday morning for Bourda Market and she noted that some 15 minutes later she was informed of the accident.
Reports are that Rodrigues was heading along Lime Street and was waiting to cross D’Urban Street when the speeding taxi which was proceeding along D’Urban Street, struck him down. He was picked up by the woman and taken to the GPHC. Relatives were upset that the woman was released on station bail. They noted that they will pursue the matter to ensure that the driver does not escape the incident lightly.
Source
Former Member
Death toll rises in speeding minibus accident
Written by Denis Scott Chabrol
Monday, 18 July 2011 18:59
The bus that was involved in the accident.
Four persons died and 10 others were injured in a major minibus accident on Homestretch Avenue Monday evening, authorities said.
The accident occurred around 6:30 PM. Dead are an unidentified man, 39-year old Corretta Benjamin, the Headteacher of JE Burnham Nursery School, Kitty; Peter McLennon, 29, of ‘B’ Field, South Turkeyen, East Coast Demerara, and Chrisel Paul, 8, of ‘B’ Field, Sophia. Benjamin, of B Field Sophia, was pronounced dead on arrival at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation. The number of unconscious and seriously injured is not immediately known.
Police Commissioner, Henry Greene told Demerara Waves Online News (www.demwaves.com) that the driver is in police custody assisting with investigations. He has so far told investigators that he suffered a punctured tyre but the Commissioner said it appears as though the driver was speeding.
Passenger, Delicia Paul,15, of 460 West Ruimveldt Housing Scheme said the ill-fated bus in which she was a passenger appeared to be racing with another bus.
Keisha Thornton
The bus, BMM 9888, had a blow-out of its rear right tire, causing the bus to topple several times. The bus began toppling from outside Customs Anti Narcotics Unit and continued doing so until it stopped on its roof near the entrance to Castellani Pool.
The two buses were heading west along Homestretch Avenue. Guyana Police Force patrols were seen and heard rushing to the scene of the accident. The injured include 22-year old Collin June and 22-year old Keisha Thornton of A Field Sophia who lost several of her teeth. She last Saturday got engaged at Aracari Resort, West Bank Demerara.
President of the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU), Colin Bynoe, in paying tribute to Benjamin, described her as a quiet, dedicated and professional person. "Her loss will be a great loss to the organisation and moreso her colleagues who depended on her wisdom," Bynoe told Demerara Waves Online News. "We in the GTU are unhappy when we lose the good ones who care and set the example of the profession," he added. The GTU is already in contact with the Ministry of Education to explore the best way in paying tribute to the late teacher.
Demerara Waves
Stabroek News
Written by Denis Scott Chabrol
Monday, 18 July 2011 18:59
The bus that was involved in the accident.
Four persons died and 10 others were injured in a major minibus accident on Homestretch Avenue Monday evening, authorities said.
The accident occurred around 6:30 PM. Dead are an unidentified man, 39-year old Corretta Benjamin, the Headteacher of JE Burnham Nursery School, Kitty; Peter McLennon, 29, of ‘B’ Field, South Turkeyen, East Coast Demerara, and Chrisel Paul, 8, of ‘B’ Field, Sophia. Benjamin, of B Field Sophia, was pronounced dead on arrival at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation. The number of unconscious and seriously injured is not immediately known.
Police Commissioner, Henry Greene told Demerara Waves Online News (www.demwaves.com) that the driver is in police custody assisting with investigations. He has so far told investigators that he suffered a punctured tyre but the Commissioner said it appears as though the driver was speeding.
Passenger, Delicia Paul,15, of 460 West Ruimveldt Housing Scheme said the ill-fated bus in which she was a passenger appeared to be racing with another bus.
Keisha Thornton
The bus, BMM 9888, had a blow-out of its rear right tire, causing the bus to topple several times. The bus began toppling from outside Customs Anti Narcotics Unit and continued doing so until it stopped on its roof near the entrance to Castellani Pool.
The two buses were heading west along Homestretch Avenue. Guyana Police Force patrols were seen and heard rushing to the scene of the accident. The injured include 22-year old Collin June and 22-year old Keisha Thornton of A Field Sophia who lost several of her teeth. She last Saturday got engaged at Aracari Resort, West Bank Demerara.
President of the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU), Colin Bynoe, in paying tribute to Benjamin, described her as a quiet, dedicated and professional person. "Her loss will be a great loss to the organisation and moreso her colleagues who depended on her wisdom," Bynoe told Demerara Waves Online News. "We in the GTU are unhappy when we lose the good ones who care and set the example of the profession," he added. The GTU is already in contact with the Ministry of Education to explore the best way in paying tribute to the late teacher.
Demerara Waves
Stabroek News
Former Member
When will something substantial be done? When will the buck stop somewhere?
The first thing needed to be done is revamp licencing system immediately so as to weed out those who are not fit to be driving.
So as not to be unnecessarily harsh on the working class, many of whom are forced to buy their licences because of the corrupt system in order to make a living, two things need to be done:
1. There must be centres in all three counties and in the outlying areas, such as Linden and Lethem for classes and the test to be retaken.
2. Provision must be made for those who are illiterate or semi-literate and oral tests can be given. This is an unfortunate reality in Guyana, but many of these people are skilled and experienced drivers, and they have to put bread on their table too.
The first thing needed to be done is revamp licencing system immediately so as to weed out those who are not fit to be driving.
So as not to be unnecessarily harsh on the working class, many of whom are forced to buy their licences because of the corrupt system in order to make a living, two things need to be done:
1. There must be centres in all three counties and in the outlying areas, such as Linden and Lethem for classes and the test to be retaken.
2. Provision must be made for those who are illiterate or semi-literate and oral tests can be given. This is an unfortunate reality in Guyana, but many of these people are skilled and experienced drivers, and they have to put bread on their table too.
Former Member
Homestretch tragedy sparks protest - 10-year-old survivor put on life support
By STABROEK STAFF | LOCAL NEWS | THURSDAY, JULY 21, 2011
The family and friends of one of the Homestretch Avenue dead took to the streets yesterday to protest the lawlessness of minibus drivers, while a 10-year-old survivor of the accident was put on life support.
Peter McLennon’s family and friends were part of a group of 20 persons who picketed the Home Affairs Ministry and minibus operators at the Sophia bus park, in wake of Monday’s accident, which claimed five lives. The protestors sounded off against speeding, drinking and driving, loud music in and overcrowding of minibuses, while also urging commuters to “speak up or get out” when faced with lawlessness.
Junior Duncan
“It is very unfair. Look at this young man, he’s in his prime, look at that young child, she hasn’t lived her life as yet…let the policemen camouflage themselves and find these people. Let them look at the entire bus. Some of these conductors are dirty looking and they don’t even have [a] licence. Even some of the drivers are too young to have a licence, so I don’t know how they could be driving,” said an angry Mona Grant, who was part of the protest.
Lynette Shelto Johnson, McLennon’s aunt, was also a part of the protest. “I came into the country from England to take care of my sick mother for a few months and now I have to face the death of my nephew at the hand of a… driver,” she said. “It’s very devastating to know that an innocent person has died. Police need to take serious consideration into these things,” she added, while encouraging commuters to be brave enough to speak up when drivers are speeding. “We are all human beings, we are in this together,” Johnson said.
Erica La Cruz
The protesters converged outside the Ministry of Home Affairs on Brickdam, at around 8:30am, and about one hour later they moved to the Stabroek Market Square, then to the Sophia minibus park outside of Demico House, where they targeted drivers and commuters alike, in the hope that they would pay heed to the pleas for change. Some of the placards they carried read: “We need justice fu Elron McLennon;” “Passengers must refuse to travel in crowded minibuses;” “We need our loved ones. Stop snuffing out their lives” and “Lawlessness must stop regardless of friend or favour”. McLennon’s mother’s placard read: “If de driver speeding ask him to stop de bus and get out.”
Crazel Paul
In addition to McLennon, Monday night’s accident claimed the lives of Corretta Benjamin, her only daughter Crazel Paul, who was celebrating her birthday at the time, Junior Duncan, and Erica La Cruz, all Sophia residents.
Speeding
Although police have said the driver lost control of the bus after one of his rear tyres suffered a puncture, he was also said to be speeding prior to the occurrence. According to one of the survivors, Delicia Paul, as the bus turned onto Homestretch Avenue from Sheriff Street, it began speeding and appeared to be racing with another vehicle. Then she heard the sound of the blown out tyre, after which the bus subsequently toppled. However, another passenger and survivor, Collin Jeune, 22, told this newspaper that the bus was moving at a normal pace but the driver increased his speed as he attempted to undertake another bus.
Peter McLennon
He added that it was after the driver had succeeded that the blowout occurred. “He [the driver] didn’t mash brakes right away, he try to get it under control but it [the bus] de swaying so he mash brakes and it start to topple,” Jeune said, adding that it was during the “second-to-last topple” that he flew out the window, on to the middle of the road, away from all the others. He said during the episode he kept falling in and out of consciousness. “While the bus toppling like I de black out but when I fly through de window and hit the road then I ketch me self,” he explained. He sustained minor injuries. According to Jeune, the bus was overcrowded due to the many children on board, one of whom was sitting in another’s lap. He said La Cruz, who died yesterday morning, was sitting in the front seat of the bus.
The driver of the bus is still in police custody assisting with investigations. Both the Traffic Chief and the Deputy Traffic Chief were unavailable for comment on the charges he may face.
Life support
Corretta Benjamin
Meanwhile, 10-year-old Sean Archibald is currently in the Intensive Care Unit on life support. Archibald, according to his distressed mother Shirley Richards, had undergone surgery on Tuesday night and was subsequently placed on life support yesterday. He suffered severe head injuries. Archibald’s sister, Tatian Smith, is still listed in stable condition, while another sister Jamacie, who was also with him at the time, sustained minor injuries and was discharged from the hospital yesterday. On the night of the incident the three children were on their way to meet their mother, a security guard, at King Solomon Enterprise, where she was posted.
Double grief: One of Peter Mc Lennon’s aunts in grief from the loss of her nephew in Monday evening’s accident. The woman also lost her son, who was run over by a molasses truck on Sheriff St, and she noted that she was still waiting for justice in that case.
Also still in the hospital nursing injuries were Keisha Thornton, who, according to a relative, has to undergo surgery on her jaw, which was dislocated, and Renisha Benjamin, who was listed as stable. All the other accident victims, including the conductor of the bus, were treated and sent away.
Protesters passing alongside minibuses at the bus park outside of Demico House.
More than 20 relatives and friends of Homestretch Avenue accident victim, Peter Mc Lennon yesterday protested outside the Ministry of Home Affairs on Brickdam, the Stabroek Market square and the Sophia bus park in front of Demico. The protesters urged drivers to stop speeding on the roadways, to stop drinking and driving, and for commuters to take matters in their own hands and “speak up or get out” of the vehicles when drivers are speeding or have their music on too loud. On Monday, five persons died when a speeding minibus suffered a tyre blowout and toppled. Several other persons remain hospitalized.
Source
By STABROEK STAFF | LOCAL NEWS | THURSDAY, JULY 21, 2011
The family and friends of one of the Homestretch Avenue dead took to the streets yesterday to protest the lawlessness of minibus drivers, while a 10-year-old survivor of the accident was put on life support.
Peter McLennon’s family and friends were part of a group of 20 persons who picketed the Home Affairs Ministry and minibus operators at the Sophia bus park, in wake of Monday’s accident, which claimed five lives. The protestors sounded off against speeding, drinking and driving, loud music in and overcrowding of minibuses, while also urging commuters to “speak up or get out” when faced with lawlessness.
Junior Duncan
“It is very unfair. Look at this young man, he’s in his prime, look at that young child, she hasn’t lived her life as yet…let the policemen camouflage themselves and find these people. Let them look at the entire bus. Some of these conductors are dirty looking and they don’t even have [a] licence. Even some of the drivers are too young to have a licence, so I don’t know how they could be driving,” said an angry Mona Grant, who was part of the protest.
Lynette Shelto Johnson, McLennon’s aunt, was also a part of the protest. “I came into the country from England to take care of my sick mother for a few months and now I have to face the death of my nephew at the hand of a… driver,” she said. “It’s very devastating to know that an innocent person has died. Police need to take serious consideration into these things,” she added, while encouraging commuters to be brave enough to speak up when drivers are speeding. “We are all human beings, we are in this together,” Johnson said.
Erica La Cruz
The protesters converged outside the Ministry of Home Affairs on Brickdam, at around 8:30am, and about one hour later they moved to the Stabroek Market Square, then to the Sophia minibus park outside of Demico House, where they targeted drivers and commuters alike, in the hope that they would pay heed to the pleas for change. Some of the placards they carried read: “We need justice fu Elron McLennon;” “Passengers must refuse to travel in crowded minibuses;” “We need our loved ones. Stop snuffing out their lives” and “Lawlessness must stop regardless of friend or favour”. McLennon’s mother’s placard read: “If de driver speeding ask him to stop de bus and get out.”
Crazel Paul
In addition to McLennon, Monday night’s accident claimed the lives of Corretta Benjamin, her only daughter Crazel Paul, who was celebrating her birthday at the time, Junior Duncan, and Erica La Cruz, all Sophia residents.
Speeding
Although police have said the driver lost control of the bus after one of his rear tyres suffered a puncture, he was also said to be speeding prior to the occurrence. According to one of the survivors, Delicia Paul, as the bus turned onto Homestretch Avenue from Sheriff Street, it began speeding and appeared to be racing with another vehicle. Then she heard the sound of the blown out tyre, after which the bus subsequently toppled. However, another passenger and survivor, Collin Jeune, 22, told this newspaper that the bus was moving at a normal pace but the driver increased his speed as he attempted to undertake another bus.
Peter McLennon
He added that it was after the driver had succeeded that the blowout occurred. “He [the driver] didn’t mash brakes right away, he try to get it under control but it [the bus] de swaying so he mash brakes and it start to topple,” Jeune said, adding that it was during the “second-to-last topple” that he flew out the window, on to the middle of the road, away from all the others. He said during the episode he kept falling in and out of consciousness. “While the bus toppling like I de black out but when I fly through de window and hit the road then I ketch me self,” he explained. He sustained minor injuries. According to Jeune, the bus was overcrowded due to the many children on board, one of whom was sitting in another’s lap. He said La Cruz, who died yesterday morning, was sitting in the front seat of the bus.
The driver of the bus is still in police custody assisting with investigations. Both the Traffic Chief and the Deputy Traffic Chief were unavailable for comment on the charges he may face.
Life support
Corretta Benjamin
Meanwhile, 10-year-old Sean Archibald is currently in the Intensive Care Unit on life support. Archibald, according to his distressed mother Shirley Richards, had undergone surgery on Tuesday night and was subsequently placed on life support yesterday. He suffered severe head injuries. Archibald’s sister, Tatian Smith, is still listed in stable condition, while another sister Jamacie, who was also with him at the time, sustained minor injuries and was discharged from the hospital yesterday. On the night of the incident the three children were on their way to meet their mother, a security guard, at King Solomon Enterprise, where she was posted.
Double grief: One of Peter Mc Lennon’s aunts in grief from the loss of her nephew in Monday evening’s accident. The woman also lost her son, who was run over by a molasses truck on Sheriff St, and she noted that she was still waiting for justice in that case.
Also still in the hospital nursing injuries were Keisha Thornton, who, according to a relative, has to undergo surgery on her jaw, which was dislocated, and Renisha Benjamin, who was listed as stable. All the other accident victims, including the conductor of the bus, were treated and sent away.
Protesters passing alongside minibuses at the bus park outside of Demico House.
More than 20 relatives and friends of Homestretch Avenue accident victim, Peter Mc Lennon yesterday protested outside the Ministry of Home Affairs on Brickdam, the Stabroek Market square and the Sophia bus park in front of Demico. The protesters urged drivers to stop speeding on the roadways, to stop drinking and driving, and for commuters to take matters in their own hands and “speak up or get out” of the vehicles when drivers are speeding or have their music on too loud. On Monday, five persons died when a speeding minibus suffered a tyre blowout and toppled. Several other persons remain hospitalized.
Source
Former Member
TK_REDUX (Guest)
Gerhard,
I hope they seriously implement some of your suggestions. I have a few I'd like to send to you for consideration.
I hope they seriously implement some of your suggestions. I have a few I'd like to send to you for consideration.
Former Member
Road rage
By STABROEK STAFF | EDITORIAL | THURSDAY, JULY 21, 2011
Road rage is the term used to describe a violent incident, which results from stress caused by an accident (mainly minor) or other road incident, where a driver expresses aggressive behaviour. The driver in question might have been cut off, side-swiped, tailgated, or might just be reacting to another driver who took two seconds too long to pull off after the traffic lights turned green, drove within or below the speed limit, or changed lanes suddenly. The aggressive behaviour might amount to rude gesturing, swearing, honking, or at the extreme, physical violence or vengeful misuse of the road-rage driver’s vehicle.
Sadly, aggressive behaviour and misuse of vehicles, whether vengeful or not, have become part of the culture which now exists in Guyana. So much so, that drivers who drive by the book – stay within the speed limit and observe the five Cs are often abused and ridiculed – become the victims of road rage.
This culture has been honed to a fine art by some who provide public transport via minibuses and taxis. Monday’s horrific accident, which up to yesterday had claimed five lives, was just another statistic of the road rage drivers. It was an accident that was waiting to happen; that could have happened at any time. It is tragic that people have died, but the sad fact is that it has happened before and even as this column is being written and read, the same behaviours responsible for Monday’s crash are being displayed on the road.
Reckless speeding and drunk driving have been responsible for the majority of the road fatalities, particularly those in which there have been multiple deaths. A look back at 2009 for example, shows that in November, five persons died almost instantly when the minibus they were in smashed into a stationary truck at Mahaica; it was reported to have been speeding. In May, a speeding taxi collided with a parked trailer on the Linden-Soesdyke Highway killing four people. There have been several other multiple deaths involving speeding and driving under the influence. The single road deaths that involve these two factors are too numerous to mention.
It was reported that by the end of January this year, according to police statistics, 13 persons had been killed in accidents on the roadways and Traffic Chief Neil Semple said in February that they were mostly attributable to speeding and the continued practice of driving under the influence of alcohol. While the statistics mostly record the loss of life, injuries sustained in crashes like these are often very horrific; some people are maimed for life by the loss of limbs or their eyesight, or are left with ugly scars from wounds. Then there is the accompanying mental trauma of survivors, even of eyewitnesses, that is often never addressed.
Random statistics reveal that in 2006 there were 139 road fatalities; in 2007 there were 116 accidents with 136 deaths, 19 of which were children; in 2008 – up to the beginning of December – there were 89 accidents with 101 deaths, three being children. Less than two weeks ago, the traffic chief said on a television programme which the Guyana Police Force uses to educate the populace on law enforcement issues, that he was alarmed at the number of road deaths. The alarming figure was not quoted, but Mr Semple promised enforcement by the traffic department, urged the reporting of indiscipline and advocated educating the public as regards safe road use; in fact, all that the force has been doing so far. That the carnage continues is a clear indication that it is not enough. There might be a campaign in the works even now, given Monday’s crash – but it will not be enough.
The police campaigns must be ongoing, since lawlessness retakes the road at the end of each one. The police can reduce the numbers of inexperienced drivers taking risks with people’s lives by simply checking their ages against the type of licence they have been issued, and where it is found to be flawed, seizing the licence, charging the driver and vehicle owner where this applies and prosecuting whomever issued the licence. There must be stiffer penalties for certain traffic offences as being lobbied for by Women in Black and other groups; it’s time that our politicians get moving on this. The revenue authority and the police must also work together in removing vehicles which are not roadworthy from our streets; they are a danger.
Last, but most importantly, commuters must take responsibility for their lives and limbs; they should demand that drivers reduce their speed or get out of their vehicles, in addition to which they should report those who otherwise break the law – especially the imbibers. Unless there is a complete change in the aggressive way our roads are used at present, there will continue to be many more days like Monday.
Source
By STABROEK STAFF | EDITORIAL | THURSDAY, JULY 21, 2011
Road rage is the term used to describe a violent incident, which results from stress caused by an accident (mainly minor) or other road incident, where a driver expresses aggressive behaviour. The driver in question might have been cut off, side-swiped, tailgated, or might just be reacting to another driver who took two seconds too long to pull off after the traffic lights turned green, drove within or below the speed limit, or changed lanes suddenly. The aggressive behaviour might amount to rude gesturing, swearing, honking, or at the extreme, physical violence or vengeful misuse of the road-rage driver’s vehicle.
Sadly, aggressive behaviour and misuse of vehicles, whether vengeful or not, have become part of the culture which now exists in Guyana. So much so, that drivers who drive by the book – stay within the speed limit and observe the five Cs are often abused and ridiculed – become the victims of road rage.
This culture has been honed to a fine art by some who provide public transport via minibuses and taxis. Monday’s horrific accident, which up to yesterday had claimed five lives, was just another statistic of the road rage drivers. It was an accident that was waiting to happen; that could have happened at any time. It is tragic that people have died, but the sad fact is that it has happened before and even as this column is being written and read, the same behaviours responsible for Monday’s crash are being displayed on the road.
Reckless speeding and drunk driving have been responsible for the majority of the road fatalities, particularly those in which there have been multiple deaths. A look back at 2009 for example, shows that in November, five persons died almost instantly when the minibus they were in smashed into a stationary truck at Mahaica; it was reported to have been speeding. In May, a speeding taxi collided with a parked trailer on the Linden-Soesdyke Highway killing four people. There have been several other multiple deaths involving speeding and driving under the influence. The single road deaths that involve these two factors are too numerous to mention.
It was reported that by the end of January this year, according to police statistics, 13 persons had been killed in accidents on the roadways and Traffic Chief Neil Semple said in February that they were mostly attributable to speeding and the continued practice of driving under the influence of alcohol. While the statistics mostly record the loss of life, injuries sustained in crashes like these are often very horrific; some people are maimed for life by the loss of limbs or their eyesight, or are left with ugly scars from wounds. Then there is the accompanying mental trauma of survivors, even of eyewitnesses, that is often never addressed.
Random statistics reveal that in 2006 there were 139 road fatalities; in 2007 there were 116 accidents with 136 deaths, 19 of which were children; in 2008 – up to the beginning of December – there were 89 accidents with 101 deaths, three being children. Less than two weeks ago, the traffic chief said on a television programme which the Guyana Police Force uses to educate the populace on law enforcement issues, that he was alarmed at the number of road deaths. The alarming figure was not quoted, but Mr Semple promised enforcement by the traffic department, urged the reporting of indiscipline and advocated educating the public as regards safe road use; in fact, all that the force has been doing so far. That the carnage continues is a clear indication that it is not enough. There might be a campaign in the works even now, given Monday’s crash – but it will not be enough.
The police campaigns must be ongoing, since lawlessness retakes the road at the end of each one. The police can reduce the numbers of inexperienced drivers taking risks with people’s lives by simply checking their ages against the type of licence they have been issued, and where it is found to be flawed, seizing the licence, charging the driver and vehicle owner where this applies and prosecuting whomever issued the licence. There must be stiffer penalties for certain traffic offences as being lobbied for by Women in Black and other groups; it’s time that our politicians get moving on this. The revenue authority and the police must also work together in removing vehicles which are not roadworthy from our streets; they are a danger.
Last, but most importantly, commuters must take responsibility for their lives and limbs; they should demand that drivers reduce their speed or get out of their vehicles, in addition to which they should report those who otherwise break the law – especially the imbibers. Unless there is a complete change in the aggressive way our roads are used at present, there will continue to be many more days like Monday.
Source
Former Member
Please do, as I need to update the paper I posted at the beginning of this thread.quote:Originally posted by TK_REDUX:
Gerhard,
I hope they seriously implement some of your suggestions. I have a few I'd like to send to you for consideration.
Former Member
Road fatality figures jump by 8% over 2010 figures
JULY 21, 2011 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER NEWS
Already for the year, 68 persons have lost their lives in road accidents from 62 accidents. For the same period last year there were 57 accidents resulting in 62 deaths. For this year six of the victims were children. For the corresponding period last year four children died. The most recent accident was on Monday on Homestretch Avenue. Coretta Benjamin, Crazel Paul, Ericka La Cruz, Junior Duncan and Peter McLennan perished after the minibus in which they were traveling, crashed.
Speaking at Guyana Police Force 12th award ceremony, yesterday, Commissioner of Police Henry Greene, said that unfortunate incidents like these spark unease in society. Greene said that the public has a role to play in road safety. He added that the public has been contributing to the lawlessness on the roadways. “The public has a role to play in managing these errant minibus and taxi drivers who want to speed and make 20 trips a day so that they can fill their pockets as against the safety of the passengers…The passengers are to be blamed; they can choose to get off the bus.” The Commissioner said that the force will continue in its many enforcement efforts which include the breathalyzer tests, the use of the radar guns and the new legislations. “I still see a lot of drivers using cell phones while driving. I urge the public to take note and take the number of the errant drivers and bring them in.”
So far for the year, the force has made out a total of 35,096 cases. Out of this figure 7660 were for speeding, 4220 cases of overloading, 579 for driving under the Influence of Alcohol, 377 for using cell phones while diving and 3272 breach of traffic lights. These figures, the Commissioner said, are a good reflection of what the force is doing.
Meanwhile, relatives of the victims who perished in Monday’s accident yesterday staged a protest outside of the Stabroek Market. The protestors were calling on all stakeholders to get involved in road safety.
Source
JULY 21, 2011 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER NEWS
Already for the year, 68 persons have lost their lives in road accidents from 62 accidents. For the same period last year there were 57 accidents resulting in 62 deaths. For this year six of the victims were children. For the corresponding period last year four children died. The most recent accident was on Monday on Homestretch Avenue. Coretta Benjamin, Crazel Paul, Ericka La Cruz, Junior Duncan and Peter McLennan perished after the minibus in which they were traveling, crashed.
Speaking at Guyana Police Force 12th award ceremony, yesterday, Commissioner of Police Henry Greene, said that unfortunate incidents like these spark unease in society. Greene said that the public has a role to play in road safety. He added that the public has been contributing to the lawlessness on the roadways. “The public has a role to play in managing these errant minibus and taxi drivers who want to speed and make 20 trips a day so that they can fill their pockets as against the safety of the passengers…The passengers are to be blamed; they can choose to get off the bus.” The Commissioner said that the force will continue in its many enforcement efforts which include the breathalyzer tests, the use of the radar guns and the new legislations. “I still see a lot of drivers using cell phones while driving. I urge the public to take note and take the number of the errant drivers and bring them in.”
So far for the year, the force has made out a total of 35,096 cases. Out of this figure 7660 were for speeding, 4220 cases of overloading, 579 for driving under the Influence of Alcohol, 377 for using cell phones while diving and 3272 breach of traffic lights. These figures, the Commissioner said, are a good reflection of what the force is doing.
Meanwhile, relatives of the victims who perished in Monday’s accident yesterday staged a protest outside of the Stabroek Market. The protestors were calling on all stakeholders to get involved in road safety.
Source
Former Member
Police ranks ordered to get rid of minibus and hire cars
JULY 21, 2011 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER NEWS
If an order from within the Guyana Police force holds true, no police rank, whether junior or senior, should be involved in the minibus or hire car business unless they receive the consent of the Commissioner of Police. According to Top Cop Henry Greene, the force had given its ranks a moratorium to delink themselves from such activities. “We have an order, we had given them a moratorium up to May (this year) to get rid of all minibuses,” Greene told members of the media yesterday.
There are reports that a number of vehicles that are involved in the public transportation system are owned and sometimes operated by members of the Police Force, thereby compromising efforts to maintain law and order on the roadways. In some cases it is alleged that police traffic ranks turn a blind eye to many traffic violations by public transport operators, while the operators themselves carry on in a manner that suggests that the system is compromised.
But according to the Commissioner, the force is taking every action to remove that perception. He disclosed that recently the force fired another policeman for driving minibus and for ownership of minibus. Despite his efforts to get back his job the force has not budged.
“Policemen, we have an order, no minibus, no hire car. That is clear as crystal and if they are found, we use the Police Act which says that the commissioner has to give the permission to be involved in any trade or business. That is one we are not permitting, minibus or hire car,” Greene stated.
Source
JULY 21, 2011 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER NEWS
If an order from within the Guyana Police force holds true, no police rank, whether junior or senior, should be involved in the minibus or hire car business unless they receive the consent of the Commissioner of Police. According to Top Cop Henry Greene, the force had given its ranks a moratorium to delink themselves from such activities. “We have an order, we had given them a moratorium up to May (this year) to get rid of all minibuses,” Greene told members of the media yesterday.
There are reports that a number of vehicles that are involved in the public transportation system are owned and sometimes operated by members of the Police Force, thereby compromising efforts to maintain law and order on the roadways. In some cases it is alleged that police traffic ranks turn a blind eye to many traffic violations by public transport operators, while the operators themselves carry on in a manner that suggests that the system is compromised.
But according to the Commissioner, the force is taking every action to remove that perception. He disclosed that recently the force fired another policeman for driving minibus and for ownership of minibus. Despite his efforts to get back his job the force has not budged.
“Policemen, we have an order, no minibus, no hire car. That is clear as crystal and if they are found, we use the Police Act which says that the commissioner has to give the permission to be involved in any trade or business. That is one we are not permitting, minibus or hire car,” Greene stated.
Source
Former Member
AFC calls for immediate revamp of licencing system
JULY 21, 2011 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER NEWS
In light of the increasing frequency of road fatalities and accidents, the Alliance For Change (AFC) is calling for the immediate revamp of the licencing system in order to weed out those unsuitable for driving. Executive Member Gerhard Ramsaroop indicated that the political party is cognizant that there are some people who require a driver’s licence for employment purposes, and as such, it recommends that oral tests should be given for those who are illiterate or semi-literate. This would negate the purchasing of licences because of the corrupt system.
Another recommendation by the party is the establishment of centres countrywide, for driving classes and the test to be taken. Ramsaroop emphasized that since 2002, AFC’s Prime Ministerial candidate Sheila Holder brought a motion to the National Assembly for a policy to be drafted and appropriate regulation instituted in consultation with operators in the sector, consumers and other stakeholders, to introduce best practices and systems for the safe, efficient and fair operation of the public transportation sector. This motion was proposed because of the view that the sector was falling short of minimum standards of safety, courtesy, and recognition of the rights of consumers using the service.
This scenario is reflective in the deaths of children on the roadways. Ramsaroop noted that recently the public saw the maiming of eight-year-old Vijai Ramnauth and the senseless killing of his nine-year-old sister, Jaswattie, by an errant driver. He stressed that only two years before, this very driver knocked down a ten-year-old child, Sateshwar Ragunanadan, leaving him still heavily impaired today. It was noted that within three days of the accident of the Ramnauth children, four-year-old Aquilah Samuels was tragically crushed and killed on the spot, while her cousin, 13-year-old Shaka Anthony, died two hours later. Recently, five persons lost their lives including eight-year-old Crazel Paul.
The AFC suggests that when an accident results in a fatality, the driver must within 24 hours retake the driver’s test. If the person fails, an investigation must be immediately launched as to how the driver’s licence was obtained. Once found fraudulent, the state must assume culpability, even if the driver was not in the wrong. Ramsaroop emphasized that the driver ought not to have been on the road in the first place. He added that once the state is found guilty, it opens the door to private litigation as well, and given the normally low sums paid by insurance companies or in private settlements, this is the only way poor families in Guyana can receive some form of justice and reprieve.
Source
JULY 21, 2011 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER NEWS
In light of the increasing frequency of road fatalities and accidents, the Alliance For Change (AFC) is calling for the immediate revamp of the licencing system in order to weed out those unsuitable for driving. Executive Member Gerhard Ramsaroop indicated that the political party is cognizant that there are some people who require a driver’s licence for employment purposes, and as such, it recommends that oral tests should be given for those who are illiterate or semi-literate. This would negate the purchasing of licences because of the corrupt system.
Another recommendation by the party is the establishment of centres countrywide, for driving classes and the test to be taken. Ramsaroop emphasized that since 2002, AFC’s Prime Ministerial candidate Sheila Holder brought a motion to the National Assembly for a policy to be drafted and appropriate regulation instituted in consultation with operators in the sector, consumers and other stakeholders, to introduce best practices and systems for the safe, efficient and fair operation of the public transportation sector. This motion was proposed because of the view that the sector was falling short of minimum standards of safety, courtesy, and recognition of the rights of consumers using the service.
This scenario is reflective in the deaths of children on the roadways. Ramsaroop noted that recently the public saw the maiming of eight-year-old Vijai Ramnauth and the senseless killing of his nine-year-old sister, Jaswattie, by an errant driver. He stressed that only two years before, this very driver knocked down a ten-year-old child, Sateshwar Ragunanadan, leaving him still heavily impaired today. It was noted that within three days of the accident of the Ramnauth children, four-year-old Aquilah Samuels was tragically crushed and killed on the spot, while her cousin, 13-year-old Shaka Anthony, died two hours later. Recently, five persons lost their lives including eight-year-old Crazel Paul.
The AFC suggests that when an accident results in a fatality, the driver must within 24 hours retake the driver’s test. If the person fails, an investigation must be immediately launched as to how the driver’s licence was obtained. Once found fraudulent, the state must assume culpability, even if the driver was not in the wrong. Ramsaroop emphasized that the driver ought not to have been on the road in the first place. He added that once the state is found guilty, it opens the door to private litigation as well, and given the normally low sums paid by insurance companies or in private settlements, this is the only way poor families in Guyana can receive some form of justice and reprieve.
Source
Former Member
Gerhard, it seems the attitude on the roads is distinctively similar, to the rudeness and haste displayed by usually courtious and well mannered people- when buying goods from a busy shop/stall in Guyana. + has a date been set for the elections?
Former Member
GECOM has given the assurance that the election will be held before the 28th of December, 2011. A date however, has not been set as yet.quote:Originally posted by aussie:
Gerhard, it seems the attitude on the roads is distinctively similar, to the rudeness and haste displayed by usually courtious and well mannered people- when buying goods from a busy shop/stall in Guyana. + has a date been set for the elections?
Former Member
Clear Connect Call Centre employees injured in road accident
Written by Denis Scott Chabrol
Thursday, 21 July 2011 21:11
The car that struck down the women
Two sales representatives at the Clear Connect call centre were Thursday night struck down on a pavement in Kingston, Georgetown and seriously injured. The injured women are Yolanda Murphy,21, and Rosina Razack who is in her early 30s.
Colleagues of the injured recalled that blood was gushing down the legs of Murphy who is four months pregnant. Razack suffered severe head injuries and was taken to the hospital in an unconscious condition. Their colleagues said when the car, PDD 7478, struck down the girls on the pavement of the High Street bridge, Murphy crashed through the windscreen and landed on the front seat. The two persons were walking on the western side of High Street, heading south on their way home.
The ladies were rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation. Traffic officers of the Guyana Police Force detained the driver and the car. The accident occurred after 8 PM.
Demerara Waves
Stabroek News
Written by Denis Scott Chabrol
Thursday, 21 July 2011 21:11
The car that struck down the women
Two sales representatives at the Clear Connect call centre were Thursday night struck down on a pavement in Kingston, Georgetown and seriously injured. The injured women are Yolanda Murphy,21, and Rosina Razack who is in her early 30s.
Colleagues of the injured recalled that blood was gushing down the legs of Murphy who is four months pregnant. Razack suffered severe head injuries and was taken to the hospital in an unconscious condition. Their colleagues said when the car, PDD 7478, struck down the girls on the pavement of the High Street bridge, Murphy crashed through the windscreen and landed on the front seat. The two persons were walking on the western side of High Street, heading south on their way home.
The ladies were rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation. Traffic officers of the Guyana Police Force detained the driver and the car. The accident occurred after 8 PM.
Demerara Waves
Stabroek News
Former Member
The minibus problems continue
JULY 22, 2011 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER LETTERS
Dear Editor,
In your edition of Monday October 16, 2006, the following letter was published under the caption “Solving The Minibus Problem.” I re-submit the same letter verbatim, because I believe it is more relevant now than it was about five years ago. The letter stated:
The authorities can no longer prescribe band-aid remedies for the minibus malady. In order to stop the carnage on our roads, a more radical approach is required to excise this endemic culture.
The major causes of minibus accidents are speeding, poor judgement and a lack of situation awareness on the part of many drivers.
Why do drivers speed their buses? The answer is “To Maximize Their Earnings.” There are too many buses competing for a fixed number of commuters on any given day. Drivers are therefore enticed to make as many trips as possible to increase their income. This results in speeding. So, what can we do?
I submit that the authorities should phase out the 15-seater buses over a four-year period. As soon as possible, it should be mandated that buses being imported for public transportation should have at least 30 seats. At the end of the phasing out exercise there will be half the number of buses in the system, transporting approximately the same aggregate of passengers. The drivers can do fewer trips with less stress and still achieve their income. But more importantly, since the 30-seaters are larger vehicles, they are less maneuverable than the 15-seaters. The drivers therefore cannot and will not drive them as they now drive the smaller buses.
Additionally, there should be stricter requirements for persons seeking licences to drive vehicles which are used for public transportation. A database of bus drivers should be compiled so as to ensure closer monitoring and harsher penalties must be implemented, that will deter all drivers from violating traffic laws.
We must act now to solve the problem. If we continue to do the same things we will get the same results.
Lloyd H. Marshall.
Source
JULY 22, 2011 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER LETTERS
Dear Editor,
In your edition of Monday October 16, 2006, the following letter was published under the caption “Solving The Minibus Problem.” I re-submit the same letter verbatim, because I believe it is more relevant now than it was about five years ago. The letter stated:
The authorities can no longer prescribe band-aid remedies for the minibus malady. In order to stop the carnage on our roads, a more radical approach is required to excise this endemic culture.
The major causes of minibus accidents are speeding, poor judgement and a lack of situation awareness on the part of many drivers.
Why do drivers speed their buses? The answer is “To Maximize Their Earnings.” There are too many buses competing for a fixed number of commuters on any given day. Drivers are therefore enticed to make as many trips as possible to increase their income. This results in speeding. So, what can we do?
I submit that the authorities should phase out the 15-seater buses over a four-year period. As soon as possible, it should be mandated that buses being imported for public transportation should have at least 30 seats. At the end of the phasing out exercise there will be half the number of buses in the system, transporting approximately the same aggregate of passengers. The drivers can do fewer trips with less stress and still achieve their income. But more importantly, since the 30-seaters are larger vehicles, they are less maneuverable than the 15-seaters. The drivers therefore cannot and will not drive them as they now drive the smaller buses.
Additionally, there should be stricter requirements for persons seeking licences to drive vehicles which are used for public transportation. A database of bus drivers should be compiled so as to ensure closer monitoring and harsher penalties must be implemented, that will deter all drivers from violating traffic laws.
We must act now to solve the problem. If we continue to do the same things we will get the same results.
Lloyd H. Marshall.
Source
Former Member
Thumbs continue to twiddle while Rome burns...
Former Member
Ministry of Public Works vehicle causes four-vehicle smash up
JULY 23, 2011 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER NEWS
Motor vehicle PKK 931 at the back of the vehicles which were involved in the accident. In front are two of the badly damaged vehicles.
An employee of the Ministry of Pubic Works seemed to be in a hurry recently as he sped down the turn at Lombard Street, Charlestown, and slammed into a line of parked vehicles outside of the Guyana National Shipping Corporation (GNSC). Reports are that three vehicles — a silver Raum (PNN 1414), a white wagon (HB 7106) and another motor-car (PHH 8095) were parked outside of the GNSC gates around 13:30hrs when the accident occurred. According to eye-witnesses a black RAV4 (PKK 931) “swung around the corner” with great speed and slammed into the back of PHH 8095 and started a chain reaction. This resultant crash forced PHH 8095 into the back of HB 7106 which eventually pushed PNN 1414 into the gates of GNSC causing the gates to be forcibly open. The sudden loud crashes left passers-by shaken since this was an unusual event. “Is only things like this you does see in movies. Only in movies not real life. But now it happen,” said one man.
Kaieteur News understands that the driver of PNN 1414, Olen Isaacs, along with another passenger, Joan McPherson, were in the vehicle waiting their turn to enter the compound to uplift two barrels. Due to the “sudden push” their vehicle received, McPherson said she received injuries about her neck and her spectacles were broken. Edward Bailey, the driver of HB 7106 said that his vehicle was stationery, and he was not aware of PKK 931 banking the turn or even close to his vehicle until the accident occurred. The passenger inside PHH 8095, Donna Bishop, told this newspaper that she usually vends inside of the GNSC compound and was in the vehicle with all of her food items when PKK 931 came crashing into the back of her car.
Bishop’s nephew, who was operating the car, was amazed at the reaction and attitude of the driver of PKK 931. Her nephew was at a loss for words when he became aware of the extent of damages his vehicle also received. “I could have lost my life. She (aunt) could have lost hers. And this man saying nonsense and acting like it ain’t serious trying to reassure me that my vehicle going to get repair. Like he ain’t understand that we could have lost we lives. All of we”
The driver of PKK 931 identified himself as “R. Persaud” and was reluctant to give a comment about the incident. He admitted to Kaieteur News that the vehicle was the property of the Ministry of Public Works and that the steering wheel “got stuck” as he was about to turn at the corner of Lombard Street, Charlestown, Georgetown. Contrary to the reports of eye-witnesses that Persaud was speeding, the man claimed otherwise saying “If I was speeding the accident would have been much more devastating and severe” (by Kristen Macklingam)
Source
JULY 23, 2011 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER NEWS
Motor vehicle PKK 931 at the back of the vehicles which were involved in the accident. In front are two of the badly damaged vehicles.
An employee of the Ministry of Pubic Works seemed to be in a hurry recently as he sped down the turn at Lombard Street, Charlestown, and slammed into a line of parked vehicles outside of the Guyana National Shipping Corporation (GNSC). Reports are that three vehicles — a silver Raum (PNN 1414), a white wagon (HB 7106) and another motor-car (PHH 8095) were parked outside of the GNSC gates around 13:30hrs when the accident occurred. According to eye-witnesses a black RAV4 (PKK 931) “swung around the corner” with great speed and slammed into the back of PHH 8095 and started a chain reaction. This resultant crash forced PHH 8095 into the back of HB 7106 which eventually pushed PNN 1414 into the gates of GNSC causing the gates to be forcibly open. The sudden loud crashes left passers-by shaken since this was an unusual event. “Is only things like this you does see in movies. Only in movies not real life. But now it happen,” said one man.
Kaieteur News understands that the driver of PNN 1414, Olen Isaacs, along with another passenger, Joan McPherson, were in the vehicle waiting their turn to enter the compound to uplift two barrels. Due to the “sudden push” their vehicle received, McPherson said she received injuries about her neck and her spectacles were broken. Edward Bailey, the driver of HB 7106 said that his vehicle was stationery, and he was not aware of PKK 931 banking the turn or even close to his vehicle until the accident occurred. The passenger inside PHH 8095, Donna Bishop, told this newspaper that she usually vends inside of the GNSC compound and was in the vehicle with all of her food items when PKK 931 came crashing into the back of her car.
Bishop’s nephew, who was operating the car, was amazed at the reaction and attitude of the driver of PKK 931. Her nephew was at a loss for words when he became aware of the extent of damages his vehicle also received. “I could have lost my life. She (aunt) could have lost hers. And this man saying nonsense and acting like it ain’t serious trying to reassure me that my vehicle going to get repair. Like he ain’t understand that we could have lost we lives. All of we”
The driver of PKK 931 identified himself as “R. Persaud” and was reluctant to give a comment about the incident. He admitted to Kaieteur News that the vehicle was the property of the Ministry of Public Works and that the steering wheel “got stuck” as he was about to turn at the corner of Lombard Street, Charlestown, Georgetown. Contrary to the reports of eye-witnesses that Persaud was speeding, the man claimed otherwise saying “If I was speeding the accident would have been much more devastating and severe” (by Kristen Macklingam)
Source
Former Member
Accident on Number 51 public road injures two, one critical
JULY 23, 2011 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER NEWS
The driver of the canter being questioned by a Whim Police Station traffic rank shortly after the accident
An accident on the Number 51 Public Road on the Corentyne, around 11:10 hrs on Thursday left two persons injured, one of whom is fighting for his life in a city hospital. According to reports, two employees of Crown Spot Lemonade Factory, Karran Chooraman, 25 of Tain, Corentyne, and Mohamed Fauzuddin Ally, called ‘Lil Bai’, 19, of Belvedere, Corentyne were offloading lemonade from their truck that was parked on the corner when a Bryden and Fernandes Canter truck came crashing into them.
Eyewitnesses said that the driver of the Canter truck was speeding and lost control of his vehicle, delving a hard blow to Chooraman, and a lesser blow to Ally. Chooraman was flung several yards away from the scene and was left lying on the road unconscious. “He slide from till at the back wheel,” one of the eyewitnesses told Kaieteur News. Chooraman has since been transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation Emergency Unit. The driver of the truck, Azad, said that he was in front of the truck, in his seat, and that the men were selling the lemonade when he heard a loud impact. “The man [Chooraman] get lash from till there (behind the truck) and catch the man till a side there…buss up all he head. One of them [Chooraman] unconscious.” There was some blood on the road as well as broken bottles, evidence of what had happened.
Police quickly arrived on the scene and whisked the two men to the Skeldon Hospital where they are receiving medical attention. The driver of the Canter truck was arrested and taken to the Whim Police Station and returned after a while to the scene to assist traffic ranks with details about the accident. He remains in custody at Whim.
Source
JULY 23, 2011 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER NEWS
The driver of the canter being questioned by a Whim Police Station traffic rank shortly after the accident
An accident on the Number 51 Public Road on the Corentyne, around 11:10 hrs on Thursday left two persons injured, one of whom is fighting for his life in a city hospital. According to reports, two employees of Crown Spot Lemonade Factory, Karran Chooraman, 25 of Tain, Corentyne, and Mohamed Fauzuddin Ally, called ‘Lil Bai’, 19, of Belvedere, Corentyne were offloading lemonade from their truck that was parked on the corner when a Bryden and Fernandes Canter truck came crashing into them.
Eyewitnesses said that the driver of the Canter truck was speeding and lost control of his vehicle, delving a hard blow to Chooraman, and a lesser blow to Ally. Chooraman was flung several yards away from the scene and was left lying on the road unconscious. “He slide from till at the back wheel,” one of the eyewitnesses told Kaieteur News. Chooraman has since been transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation Emergency Unit. The driver of the truck, Azad, said that he was in front of the truck, in his seat, and that the men were selling the lemonade when he heard a loud impact. “The man [Chooraman] get lash from till there (behind the truck) and catch the man till a side there…buss up all he head. One of them [Chooraman] unconscious.” There was some blood on the road as well as broken bottles, evidence of what had happened.
Police quickly arrived on the scene and whisked the two men to the Skeldon Hospital where they are receiving medical attention. The driver of the Canter truck was arrested and taken to the Whim Police Station and returned after a while to the scene to assist traffic ranks with details about the accident. He remains in custody at Whim.
Source
Former Member
13-year-old suffers from head injures
JULY 23, 2011 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER NEWS
Beih Ballie, a 13-year-old male, who sustained severe head injures a month ago, is slowly responding to treatment at the Georgetown Public Hospital Cooperation. Ballie, a resident of New Amsterdam, Berbice, was returning home from a neighbour when he was run over by a motorcar. “Ballie was riding in the corner when this car drive over him,” his mother said.
At the hospital yesterday the victim’s mother told this newspaper that her son was rushed to the nearest hospital in New Amsterdam and later transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital for surgery. The man responsible for the accident has been release from police custody a day after the incident occurred. And the victim’s mother wants justice. The woman is grateful for her son being alive but she insists that she wants justice.
Source
JULY 23, 2011 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER NEWS
Beih Ballie, a 13-year-old male, who sustained severe head injures a month ago, is slowly responding to treatment at the Georgetown Public Hospital Cooperation. Ballie, a resident of New Amsterdam, Berbice, was returning home from a neighbour when he was run over by a motorcar. “Ballie was riding in the corner when this car drive over him,” his mother said.
At the hospital yesterday the victim’s mother told this newspaper that her son was rushed to the nearest hospital in New Amsterdam and later transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital for surgery. The man responsible for the accident has been release from police custody a day after the incident occurred. And the victim’s mother wants justice. The woman is grateful for her son being alive but she insists that she wants justice.
Source
Former Member
Ten-year-old accident victim on life support
JULY 22, 2011 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER NEWS
Doctors at the Georgetown Hospital were up to press time closely monitoring ten-year-old Shawn Archibald’s condition in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Archibald and his two siblings, Jamacie and Tatianna, were involved in Monday’s tragic accident on Homestretch Avenue which claimed the lives of five people, including an eight-year-old.
When Kaieteur News visited the young child yesterday, his mother Shirley Richards explained that he had been moved from the Pediatric unit after his condition worsened. The woman said that doctors consequently suspended a surgery. Kaieteur News was told that the child is non-responsive and is currently hooked up to machines helping him to breathe. His mother looked visibly exhausted as she moved between the pediatric ward and ICU caring for her offspring. The woman’s three-year-old daughter Tatianna is in the pediatric ward, nursing injuries to the neck, feet and hands. According to the mother, the little girl’s condition is steadily improving, while her older sister has been released from the hospital.
Kaieteur News understands that the child, along with his siblings, would normally go to their aunt’s residence in Sophia and return home to Tucshen, East Bank Essequibo home. The death toll for the Homestretch Avenue accident rose to five on Tuesday after 17-year-old Erica La Cruz succumbed to head and internal injuries at the Georgetown Hospital. Those killed in the accident were Headmistress Coretta Benjamin, 40, her eight-year-old daughter, Crazel Paul, both of Lot 704 ‘B’ Field, Sophia; Elron Peter Mc Clennon, 29, also of ‘B’ Field, Sophia; Junior Duncan, 47, of ‘A’ Field Sophia and 17-year old Erica La Cruz, also of ‘A’ Field, Sophia.
Critical Shawn Archibald
Meanwhile, the driver of the minibus, Jermaine Jackson, was yesterday slapped with five counts of causing death by dangerous driving. He has been remanded to prison until September 9.
Source
JULY 22, 2011 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER NEWS
Doctors at the Georgetown Hospital were up to press time closely monitoring ten-year-old Shawn Archibald’s condition in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Archibald and his two siblings, Jamacie and Tatianna, were involved in Monday’s tragic accident on Homestretch Avenue which claimed the lives of five people, including an eight-year-old.
When Kaieteur News visited the young child yesterday, his mother Shirley Richards explained that he had been moved from the Pediatric unit after his condition worsened. The woman said that doctors consequently suspended a surgery. Kaieteur News was told that the child is non-responsive and is currently hooked up to machines helping him to breathe. His mother looked visibly exhausted as she moved between the pediatric ward and ICU caring for her offspring. The woman’s three-year-old daughter Tatianna is in the pediatric ward, nursing injuries to the neck, feet and hands. According to the mother, the little girl’s condition is steadily improving, while her older sister has been released from the hospital.
Kaieteur News understands that the child, along with his siblings, would normally go to their aunt’s residence in Sophia and return home to Tucshen, East Bank Essequibo home. The death toll for the Homestretch Avenue accident rose to five on Tuesday after 17-year-old Erica La Cruz succumbed to head and internal injuries at the Georgetown Hospital. Those killed in the accident were Headmistress Coretta Benjamin, 40, her eight-year-old daughter, Crazel Paul, both of Lot 704 ‘B’ Field, Sophia; Elron Peter Mc Clennon, 29, also of ‘B’ Field, Sophia; Junior Duncan, 47, of ‘A’ Field Sophia and 17-year old Erica La Cruz, also of ‘A’ Field, Sophia.
Critical Shawn Archibald
Meanwhile, the driver of the minibus, Jermaine Jackson, was yesterday slapped with five counts of causing death by dangerous driving. He has been remanded to prison until September 9.
Source
Former Member
An exchange I had on KN here: AFC calls for immediate revamp of licencing system
pro BONO:
This is what you call a contrived fluff in an effort to seek political mileage. The ANUP already jumped on the bandwagon now the AFC.
This chap who i thought has some iota of intelligence has written pure garbage which is crystallize in the sentence "Once found fraudulent, the state must assume culpability, even if the driver was not in the wrong." Didnt Ramjattan or Trotman explained to him that such a proposition is ludicrus and not supported in law? Each man must be punishible for his act, it is not for the state to assume culpability for another mans actions. At the rate we going and if AFC reach in there I see nuff more accidents and a depleted consolidated funds.
Gerhard_Ramsaroop:
The state has control of the licencing system in Guyana, and if they continue to issue licences to persons not suited to drive and who are killing our people then it must be liable. It must be liable too, if the system is so weak that it allows for rampant fraud.
At the rate we are going with the Gov't's inaction those very consolidated funds you are seeking to protect from unnecessary spending, are being spent on healthcare and all the other associated costs of the carnage on our roads. Not to mention the losses in productivity and more capital going abroad for vehicle parts.
And if you still disagree, pro BONO, please let me know where you think the buck should stop.
pro BONO:
The intent should always be to punish the wrongdoer. As such, I verily believe that the Licensing Officer if found to have issued the License fraudulently should be prosecuted.
I think your somewhat misconceived epiphany may have been derived from a principle in law called "Vicarious Liability" but unlike your proposition, this theory is sound in law.
It allows for an employer to be sued where an employee "in the lawful or authorised execution of his duties and not on a frolic of his own" is negligent. The reason behind it is because the employers pocket is deeper and the employee was carrying out the employers instructions.
Obviously, this is not the case where an employee of the state does an act fraudulently! He was certainlly not authorised or instructed to perpetrate a fraud.
as such, I think your proposition is wholly and inherently misconceived and cannot stand up to the scrutiny of any reasonable individual.
I am open to change my opinion if you have a worthwile response, if not, I do hope this is not a reflection of the AFC's ability.
Gerhard_Ramsaroop:
I am but a farmer these days, and no legal luminary, as you seem to be. Trying to swat me with your legalese is like like going after a mosquito with a 2 x 4. And then by extension, believing you can swat the AFC, reveals your intent in this discourse.
Mind you, I do agree there are those who will politicise most about anything. However, to want to remove any culpability from the State, given what has only been a worsening trend on our roads, particularly in the last decade, points to an opposite, and even greater bias you accuse me of.
Now, given I am no lawyer, when I came up with the idea I checked with Mr Ramjattan, and I understand his explanation to me as such:
Law is always dynamic. It evolves with the times and the nature of the defects a community must remedy. My proposition was but an extension of this thing you call vicarious liability - to make the State culpable when the issuance of the licence by its officer is proven to be fraudulent. It is simply going one step further - to the State. Remember there was a time when the State, or Crown as it used to be, could do no wrong. This non-liability has shifted today. It was not frozen in time.
This recently happened when the Judge awarded Twyon Thomas (the boy tortured at the hands of the Guyana police) $6.5 m. The State was held liable for the criminality of the officers who burned his penis. The State could not argue, as you are saying, that the 2 policemen were on a frolic of their own. A responsible State cannot get away from liability on such scurrilous grounds.
As such, your pro bono advice seems not to be quality enough. I would rather pay my fees to a Ramjattan and get quality service. For now, you seem to be stuck in time, not unlike Guyana under the PPP today.
Note: pro BONO has not responded to date.
pro BONO:
This is what you call a contrived fluff in an effort to seek political mileage. The ANUP already jumped on the bandwagon now the AFC.
This chap who i thought has some iota of intelligence has written pure garbage which is crystallize in the sentence "Once found fraudulent, the state must assume culpability, even if the driver was not in the wrong." Didnt Ramjattan or Trotman explained to him that such a proposition is ludicrus and not supported in law? Each man must be punishible for his act, it is not for the state to assume culpability for another mans actions. At the rate we going and if AFC reach in there I see nuff more accidents and a depleted consolidated funds.
Gerhard_Ramsaroop:
The state has control of the licencing system in Guyana, and if they continue to issue licences to persons not suited to drive and who are killing our people then it must be liable. It must be liable too, if the system is so weak that it allows for rampant fraud.
At the rate we are going with the Gov't's inaction those very consolidated funds you are seeking to protect from unnecessary spending, are being spent on healthcare and all the other associated costs of the carnage on our roads. Not to mention the losses in productivity and more capital going abroad for vehicle parts.
And if you still disagree, pro BONO, please let me know where you think the buck should stop.
pro BONO:
The intent should always be to punish the wrongdoer. As such, I verily believe that the Licensing Officer if found to have issued the License fraudulently should be prosecuted.
I think your somewhat misconceived epiphany may have been derived from a principle in law called "Vicarious Liability" but unlike your proposition, this theory is sound in law.
It allows for an employer to be sued where an employee "in the lawful or authorised execution of his duties and not on a frolic of his own" is negligent. The reason behind it is because the employers pocket is deeper and the employee was carrying out the employers instructions.
Obviously, this is not the case where an employee of the state does an act fraudulently! He was certainlly not authorised or instructed to perpetrate a fraud.
as such, I think your proposition is wholly and inherently misconceived and cannot stand up to the scrutiny of any reasonable individual.
I am open to change my opinion if you have a worthwile response, if not, I do hope this is not a reflection of the AFC's ability.
Gerhard_Ramsaroop:
I am but a farmer these days, and no legal luminary, as you seem to be. Trying to swat me with your legalese is like like going after a mosquito with a 2 x 4. And then by extension, believing you can swat the AFC, reveals your intent in this discourse.
Mind you, I do agree there are those who will politicise most about anything. However, to want to remove any culpability from the State, given what has only been a worsening trend on our roads, particularly in the last decade, points to an opposite, and even greater bias you accuse me of.
Now, given I am no lawyer, when I came up with the idea I checked with Mr Ramjattan, and I understand his explanation to me as such:
Law is always dynamic. It evolves with the times and the nature of the defects a community must remedy. My proposition was but an extension of this thing you call vicarious liability - to make the State culpable when the issuance of the licence by its officer is proven to be fraudulent. It is simply going one step further - to the State. Remember there was a time when the State, or Crown as it used to be, could do no wrong. This non-liability has shifted today. It was not frozen in time.
This recently happened when the Judge awarded Twyon Thomas (the boy tortured at the hands of the Guyana police) $6.5 m. The State was held liable for the criminality of the officers who burned his penis. The State could not argue, as you are saying, that the 2 policemen were on a frolic of their own. A responsible State cannot get away from liability on such scurrilous grounds.
As such, your pro bono advice seems not to be quality enough. I would rather pay my fees to a Ramjattan and get quality service. For now, you seem to be stuck in time, not unlike Guyana under the PPP today.
Note: pro BONO has not responded to date.
Former Member
The same old ineffectual bleatings about bad driving
JULY 23, 2011 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER LETTERS
Dear Editor,
Another major traffic accident, another tragedy – eliciting the same old ineffectual bleatings about bad driving. If the media and the Police, and what euphemistically are called ‘stakeholders’ are conscientious, they would admit to their blandishments having a familiar (almost annual) ring, over the past decade.
It is hard to believe that the so-called ‘civil society’ does not feel sufficiently concerned to mobilise and sustain a proactive campaign aimed at forcing the responsible authorities – more pre-eminently the National Road Safety Council (noted for its inactivity) and the Traffic Department of the Guyana Police Force – to bite the bullet and take the initiative (albeit belatedly) to comprehensively address the palpable non-management of the public transportation system in this country.
It is not as if several groups and individuals, including the writer, have not before made substantive proposals for curbing, indeed, preventing the increasing incidence of unnecessary road fatalities, and related injuries to victims; not to mention the immediate grief, and ensuing emotional and economic dislocation of their families. Again and again, when one considers that large private sector employment, as also government, constitute a considerable proportion of the public transport system, their institutional indifference to the mitigation of accidents, and the loss of life and limb is most befuddling.
The Insurance Companies, who profit from a captive market, somehow do not see their employees and families as possible victims of their inertia in contributing to a strategy of effective traffic safety and control. Funding of a single traffic sign, particularly the more desperately needed upright ‘STOP’ sign, could make such a difference. It would appear that all these ‘soupplicants’ and their media partners are awaiting a ‘start’ sign before they make one ‘sanctimonious’ move in a positive direction.
One suspects that legal practitioners are at times beneficiaries of litigious traffic issues. So they too lie low – insensitised by ample remuneration. Somehow, however the defaulters merely blame one another; and will simply continue to do so come same time next year.
E B John
Source
JULY 23, 2011 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER LETTERS
Dear Editor,
Another major traffic accident, another tragedy – eliciting the same old ineffectual bleatings about bad driving. If the media and the Police, and what euphemistically are called ‘stakeholders’ are conscientious, they would admit to their blandishments having a familiar (almost annual) ring, over the past decade.
It is hard to believe that the so-called ‘civil society’ does not feel sufficiently concerned to mobilise and sustain a proactive campaign aimed at forcing the responsible authorities – more pre-eminently the National Road Safety Council (noted for its inactivity) and the Traffic Department of the Guyana Police Force – to bite the bullet and take the initiative (albeit belatedly) to comprehensively address the palpable non-management of the public transportation system in this country.
It is not as if several groups and individuals, including the writer, have not before made substantive proposals for curbing, indeed, preventing the increasing incidence of unnecessary road fatalities, and related injuries to victims; not to mention the immediate grief, and ensuing emotional and economic dislocation of their families. Again and again, when one considers that large private sector employment, as also government, constitute a considerable proportion of the public transport system, their institutional indifference to the mitigation of accidents, and the loss of life and limb is most befuddling.
The Insurance Companies, who profit from a captive market, somehow do not see their employees and families as possible victims of their inertia in contributing to a strategy of effective traffic safety and control. Funding of a single traffic sign, particularly the more desperately needed upright ‘STOP’ sign, could make such a difference. It would appear that all these ‘soupplicants’ and their media partners are awaiting a ‘start’ sign before they make one ‘sanctimonious’ move in a positive direction.
One suspects that legal practitioners are at times beneficiaries of litigious traffic issues. So they too lie low – insensitised by ample remuneration. Somehow, however the defaulters merely blame one another; and will simply continue to do so come same time next year.
E B John
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