Drivers, not system failures, fuel road deaths – traffic officials

Traffic officials have warned that drivers, not systemic failures, are largely responsible for road fatalities, emphasising that education and enforcement must go hand-in-hand. Speaking on the ‘Road Safety and You’ programme, Chairman of the Guyana National Road Safety Council (GNRSC) Earl Lambert, said motorists often blame the police or Government when accidents occur. “Somewhere or the other, when folks get on the road, and they commit themselves, cause accidents, especially when somebody dies, the blame shifts. It shifts to the police. It shifts to the system,” he said.
Lambert cited a recent accident at Huntley Mahaicony on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD) as an example of driver negligence. “What I read was that the driver would have overtaken several vehicles going into the turn, and hence causing the crash and fatalities. Who do we blame? Why wasn’t the driver observing the five Cs?” He also urged the imposition of stricter penalties to deter reckless driving. “I would call on the authorities to make stricter penalties, put stricter penalties in place, so that the defaulters can feel it in their pocket.” Officer-in-Charge of Traffic in Region Three (Essequibo Island- West Demerara), Superintendent Maniram Jagnanan, emphasised that technology and systems are in place to monitor compliance. “The Government at the end of the day is putting all the necessary infrastructure and the technology in the sky in place. For instance, the SRS (Speed Radar System), which we have at various points in different regions, the speed cameras… it is there to sensitise. It is there to preserve life.” Jagnanan added that drivers must take personal responsibility. “The system is there…so, it means that we have our personal responsibility to ensure that we drive within the speed limit. We obey all laws, rules and regulations. That’s the way we preserve life.”
Inspector Lindon Williams of Kitty Police Station in Georgetown acknowledged enforcement challenges but insisted that drivers bear the ultimate responsibility.
“Because every day, we receive reports of different offences that persons are committing on the roadway, and the police can only do so much… Now with the new intervention with technology, we have the cameras, we have the speeding system, which also assists the police in detection of these offences. Because we have persons monitoring you according to your vehicle number, and so on.”
Meanwhile, President of the United Minibus Union, Eon Andrews, also highlighted systemic improvements that could support safer driving, including retraining for minibus operators. “I think that when one would have had the licence, especially when you’re looking after passengers, these people need to get retraining. Like every, you know, year or six months you go and you have an update and they can check to see. You would find that a lot of these buses we’re calling to get retrained have violators.” He warned that lawless behaviour on the roads continues to put lives at risk. “You can be different. You can choose to be lawless or you can choose to be different. So, like I said, one way to bring back the order on the roadway is education and enforcement.”
So far it has been reported by police that between January 1 and March 21, at least 28 people have lost their lives in road accidents across Guyana. Many of these fatal crashes have been linked to speeding, with authorities noting that reckless driving, failure to obey traffic laws and driver error remain key contributors.