Drivers operating vehicles with “coloured” lights will face prosecution – Traffic Chief

Drivers who would have installed coloured lights on their vehicles or any other light that is not catered for in the country’s traffic laws will be charged and prosecuted.

This is according to Deputy Police Commissioner and Traffic Chief, Linden Isles, who told Guyana Times that in many cases, traffic ranks would not be aware that certain vehicles have illegal lights unless it is during extreme darkness.
“We have been successful in prosecutions in this regard. But I can say to you most persons will tend to take off the lights although in my mind some persons would normally replace those lights because many times you find that during the hours of darkness, some of these persons have these lights, but they don’t put them on all the time. Persons really just use them, at certain times they use these lights, not all the time.”
He reiterated that in some cases, if a driver were to use such lights, it could affect other drivers utilising the roadways and that could result in serious, if not fatal, accidents.
According to Isles, the traffic department will continue to intensify its efforts in curbing this growing trend that appears to take place country-wide.
“We have ongoing enforcement against persons who would want to break the law and continue to break the law using these coloured lights. We know that the law clearly states that motor vehicles should have two white lights to the front visible from a reasonable distance. Once they are caught, they will be prosecuted.”
Meanwhile, in relation to traffic offences being committed on the major roadways, such as the East Bank Demerara main highway (EBD), where there is usually a heavy buildup of traffic at certain hours, resulting in many drivers forming their own vehicle lanes, which is illegal, he explained that patrol ranks are on the lookout and will take action against those lawbreakers.
“We have motorcyclists patrol along the roadway for those persons. Many times, you find persons because of a little hold-up, they would try to come out of the line to bore to secure a space. But we have motorcyclists and presently we have a reduction in that type of activity.”
Additionally, the Traffic Chief noted that heavy-duty truck drivers still need to respect the timeframe that they are allotted to frequent the EBD roadway.
“Between 07:00h and 09:00h in the morning they are not supposed to be on the East Bank. Any time after 09:00h, any time before 07:00h but not between that two-hour period. But most times, once we find that a truck being driven on the roadway within that time, most times the police would ask them to come off, pull off the road, pull them off the road until 09:00h.”