The Mocha/Arcadia community and frequent commuters are happy that the Ministry of Public Infrastructure has fulfilled its promise to install street lights along the Mocha Access Road, East Bank Demerara.
Eighty-seven street lights installed on the Mocha Access Road, EBD
Over the years, a high number of serious vehicular accidents have been reported along this road, the most recent being a collision involving a horse and a car, where Franky Morphine was travelling in his car PNN 4631, in company of two female cousins and their children, ages five and seven, when things took a deathly turn.
As he was nearing his destination, a horse strutted out from the bushes and into the path of the vehicle.
Believing the long stretch of road to be completely desolate at 21:00h, Morphine was caught completely off guard, unable to swerve out of the way in time after he noticed the stray animal running onto the roadway.
The horse crashed through the windshield of the car, decapitating the animal instantly. Luckily, no one was seriously injured.
However, only a few months ago Shemroy Cave, 21, a bartender lost his life following a head-on collision with a horse.
Young cave was heading to see his girlfriend after visiting his father when he crashed into the stray animal. He was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
As a result, residents of the community, as well as the father of the young man appealed to government to provide lighting for the access road, raising the point that more lives will be lost if this darkness continues to be neglected.
Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson in an invited comment said: “A lot of accidents have occurred late at nights on the Mocha Access Road, one of which resulted in a young man losing his life, and the Ministry installed lights in Diamond and felt the need to install in Mocha, subsequently we have installed 87 street lights to date.”
In mid-April, the Ministry of Public Infrastructure had announced that 100 streetlights would be installed along the access roads of Mocha and Diamond on the EBD. While the initial plan had been to install 50 streetlights per each community, this figure was increased. The Ministry made good on its promise, having completed the project in four months.
The community expressed gratitude for the lights. It is expected that the newly installed streetlights will also heighten security in as well as reduce the likelihood of road accidents, they related.
The Ministry of Public Infrastructure had also recently installed 100 lights along the Diamond/Grove Housing Scheme main road which was also prone to accidents.
It is expected that the next phase of light installation will be on the Corentyne Coast, Berbice.
