GNRSC, GPF to work at reducing fatal accidents by 50% this year

As the Guyana National Road Safety Council (GNRSC) continues to promote road safety and encourage responsible driving, it was announced that the body is aiming to reduce traffic accidents and fatalities by 50 per cent this year.
In a recent episode of Police and You, officials of the Road Safety Council and the Guyana Police Force (GPF) discussed their collaboration to reduce road accidents.
Deputy Commissioner of Operations (ag) Ravindradat Budhram during the discussion, said that for 2023, the Road Safety Council and the Guyana Police Force will be establishing councils in all regions to help educate the public on road safety.
The council in Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) will be established today while the others will be established soon. Budhram said the Police Force has made note of the alarming figures as it relates to road accidents, and is working to arrest this issue.
“These will be addressed… we have noted also the number of vehicles that are coming into our country, and the number of schemes… there is a need for traffic enforcement, there is a need for education throughout our schools, there is a need to educate our pedestrians…”, he said.
To cope with the high influx of vehicles in Guyana, the government has begun working to improve the infrastructure of the roads to ensure that road users travel safely and at a speed that is consistent with what is necessary to grow the economy and the country.
The Guyana Government has also increased the National Road Safety Council’s financial resources from $3 million to more than $11 million to help reduce road accidents.
Traffic Chief Dennis Stephens during his address at the forum said after doing an evaluation of their performance last year, his ranks realised that they have recorded a 6 per cent increase in fatalities compared to 2021.
As such, he said they are working assiduously with the Road Safety Council to reach their target of a 50 per cent reduction for the year 2023.
“…we were able to remain at the 99 per cent …one of the most important things that we would have observed is that as it relates to children, we would have recorded a 100 per cent rate as it relates to children… “, he explained.
For the first time in over 16 years, Guyana has recorded a 30 per cent decline in fatal accidents, with less than one hundred road fatalities in 2021.
Based on current traffic statistics (January 1 to November 26, 2022), there are four main causes of road accidents in Guyana: speeding, driving under the influence (DUI), driver inattentiveness, and pedestrians crossing the path of approaching vehicles.
For the past 10 years, from 2012 to 2021, according to the latest count, the year that experienced the least fatalities is 2021, with a total of 99. Concurrently, the year with the lowest number of traffic accidents was 2021 with a total of 87.
In Guyana, speeding contributed to approximately 64 per cent of road fatalities for the 2022 period. Also, driving while intoxicated is another contributing factor to fatalities on the roads. From January 1 to November 26, five people were killed in alcohol-related crashes on Guyana’s road.
Of the total fatalities in 2022, data from Traffic Headquarters revealed that the month with the highest number of fatalities was September (with 17 per cent). It was also noted that the vehicle mostly involved in fatal collisions are private cars (41 per cent), followed by motor lorries (21 per cent) for 2022.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Guyana National Road Safety Council, Earl Lambert, said the council is hoping to get everyone involved in reducing accident figures this year. He said the plan is to have organisations, especially schools, involved, which he is confident will be a success.