In the aftermath of the deadly weekend accidents which left eight persons dead, President Dr Irfaan Ali has said that the carnage on our roadways is “heart wrenching” and deeply troubling.
The weekend of carnage on the roadways that resulted in the deaths of eight people over the weekend, is a deeply troubling matter that, according to President Dr Irfaan Ali, must be looked at from a national angle and involve society as a collective. The unprecedented number of fatal road accidents within a fairly short period of time, the consequences have attracted national attention. Many families are now left trying to cope the loss of loved ones.
Even the Head of State felt compelled to make a public statement over the dire situation, lamenting his distress. To quote the Head of State: “…there must be a strong public education programme. I asked the traffic chief to meet with the media and work out a programme with the media, through which we can build a strong public education and awareness programme, dealing with this…we also have to move to the enforcement of laws, demeriting system. Suspension of license. We’ve already moved on the electronic ticketing…eight persons in one night. And the age group. Whole futures ahead of them. Families are wrecked, communities are wrecked. We have to hold this as a national issue… we have a collective responsibility on this issue. And we have to call a spade a spade. Parents have responsibilities too…we have to deal with this as a collective, as a country. And we have to address drinking and driving, we have to address speeding.”
As this newspaper has said before, the sudden and shocking death of someone close, especially due to an accident, can never be easy. The ensuing excruciating pain and mental trauma that are inflicted on surviving relatives, can be unbearable.
In a fleeting moment, families were plunged into sadness and despair having the received the dreadful news that an accident took the life of someone dear to them. That’s the painful result and often, it’s real and lingering impact may be hidden from the spotlight of the media.
The recent spate of accident even prompted some to ask the question, how many more? One interpretation from that simple question speaks to whether lessons are being learnt from accident over time. In other words, how many more have to die before better care is being taken while using the roadways?
Given what has taken place over the past few months, one could not be faulted for concluding that the results of the accidents may not have inspired a more responsible behavior.
While that is extremely heartening, there is uncertainty as to whether the mindsets of the regular errant drivers have been impacted or, have they learnt anything from what were obviously painful experiences of others. Judging from what continues to take place on the roadways, it seems clear that many drivers haven’t learnt or are clearly refusing to even be bothered by the harrowing fatal accidents.
On a daily basis, many drivers use the roadways in a very reckless manner thereby endangering occupants and other road users; the least, themselves. It becomes painful even to see how they maneuver, seemingly, without an iota of care for others.
The general public is hurting and is pleading for help.
Only recently, the Guyana Police Force launched the “Respect the Road” campaign aimed at addressing the recklessness on our roadways.
The core elements of the campaign were to brand road safety materials; launched a social media campaign along with a road Safety school campaign and a road Safety event campaign. However not much has changed as the police too battle to ease the recklessness on the roadways.
This year will go down as yet another year when Guyana experienced some of the most horrific road accidents. We support the president’s call for a public education campaign and strict enforcement of our traffic laws.
