The Traffic Department in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) has recorded ten road deaths for the first five months of the year. This figure is the same for the corresponding period last year.
However, there was an overall decrease in traffic offences recorded in the region when compared to the figures for the same period last year.
Regional Commander, Senior Superintendent Calvin Brutus, while addressing the media on Monday, said that there has been an overall decrease in traffic violations between January and May when compared with the corresponding period in 2019.
For the period under review, there were ten serious accidents compared with 17 for the corresponding period last year, representing a 41 per cent decrease.
Overall, there were 55 road accidents recorded in the region so far for the year compared with 81 for the first five months last year.
“Our troubled area seems to the Upper Corentyne,” Brutus said.
The main contributing factors for the accidents were speeding and alcohol.
Slothful prosecution
Meanwhile, the police have been sighted for their seeming slothfulness in prosecuting some drivers involved in fatal accidents.
Back in February 2018, Rohan “Pompey” Pooran, 43, of lot 58 Stanleytown New Amsterdam, was run over by a 4×4 after he reportedly attempted to cross the road.
However, family members of the dead man have been calling for the driver to be brought to justice.
In March last year, the body of 24-year-old Keyno Akeem Sinclair, a labourer of Lot 136 West Canefield, East Canje, was found on the Main Access Road at Cumberland, East Canje.
Initial reports had suggested that he was hit by a molasses truck. However, family members came forward saying that they had video evidence that it was a car driven by the wife of a businessman, and shortly after, a traffic rank from Central Police Station went to the scene and after a while, drove the car to a secure location. The man’s body was not discovered until sometime after.
The dead man’s parents have been crying out for justice, saying that the police have only told them that a case file was sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions. They too are calling for justice.
Meanwhile in April this year, a Corentyne woman, sixty-eight-year-old Lalita Rambaran of Lot 33 Section B Number 73 Village, Corentyne, had her foot severed when she was the pillion rider and two cars crashed into the motorbike her husband was riding. Her husband was also injured in the accident. However, neither of the drivers of the cars has been charged.
According to the Regional Commander, they have been waiting for advice on the way forward. He explained that reports indicate that there was a collision involving the cars before the motorcycle got involved.
He noted that there might be an inquest before a decision is made as to whether any of the drivers will be held accountable for the accident.
“An inquest can take a long time because you have to prepare it, file it at the court, and then wait for a date for it to be called. They have to form the panel and so… it takes years, sometimes three years or four years to be heard.”
The Regional Commander admitted that the police have been continuously delinquent in providing information in a timely manner to family members who have been expecting matters to go to trial, when, in fact, there is an inquiry which will not get started until years after.
“Not only for accidents but in terms of crime and all other matters concerning the police we have not been very good with giving concerned persons updates,” Brutus said.
