In light of the recent increase in road accidents involving ranks of the Guyana Police Force, Traffic Chief Dion Moore has disclosed that over 100 ranks have received training on various driving courses.
Speaking at a year-end press conference on Friday, Superintendent Moore disclosed that as part of continuous capacity building within the traffic department,
The brand-new pick up vehicle that was crashed in Berbice
ranks were trained to operate the various types of vehicles within the Force.
He noted that 27 ranks benefited from four-wheel drive courses, while 66 ranks underwent a two-wheel drive course.
“Having recognised the huge amount of vehicles that we have and the kind of vehicles we acquired lately through the Chinese grant – these vehicles are manual vehicles – so we recognised there was need for additional training in terms of our drivers. In that regard, we have trained 185 drivers… aimed at reducing accidents on our roads involving Police vehicles,” he stated.
According to the Traffic Chief, the ranks also underwent a specialised training to develop their skills and capability in the care, maintenance and use of those vehicles. He added too that only this week, another training course commenced on the use of ATVs in rough terrains.
It was reported that a total of 23 accidents involving Police vehicles were recorded to date.
Only last Thursday, a rank from B Division (Berbice), which covers the entire Berbice, crashed a brand-new pick up vehicle while attempting to overtake another vehicle on the Canje Public Road, resulting in damages to the front of the vehicle which ended up in a nearby drain.
That vehicle was amongst the US$2.6 million fleet of vehicles donated by the Chinese Government to aid in the Force’s crime fighting activities. Upon the handing over the vehicles to the various Policing divisions, Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan had cautioned that if any of the vehicles are wrecked, then the responsible ranks would be held accountable and be made to pay for the damages.
After Thursday’s crash of the new vehicle, another Police vehicle, an older one this time, was damaged in Linden when the rank was reportedly driving at a fast rate and slammed into the back of another vehicle.
On the issue of accidents, the Police Force has nevertheless recorded a declining trend in traffic related cases, with a 15 per cent decrease in accidents overall.
Road fatalities
In fact, the Traffic Chief disclosed that to date, road fatalities have decreased by 22 this year. For the year thus far, there has been 89 fatal accidents, resulting in 104 deaths compared to 115 fatal accidents with 126 deaths last year. This reflects a 23 per cent decrease in fatal accidents and a 17 per cent decrease in deaths.
Serious accidents for this year were recorded at 268 against 299, showing a 10 per cent decrease; while minor accidents were at 376 against 409 with an eight per cent decrease, and damage accidents at 598 against 737, reflecting a 90 per cent decrease.
According to Moore, while 12 children would have been killed on the country’s roadways last year, only two such deaths were recorded during the corresponding period this year. He added too that speeding has once again contributed to the majority of the accidents followed by drunk driving and then inattentiveness.
The Traffic Chief further revealed that pedestrians topped the category of road users who were killed with 33. This was followed by motorcyclists with 20 and occupants of private vehicles with 18.
According to Moore, the Force’s administration has recognised the need for additional ranks and has since assigned 71 more ranks to the traffic department along with five more motorcars and 35 motorcycles to aid in its traffic enforcement activities.
Furthermore, with the festive seasons upon us, the Traffic Chief is imploring roadusers to be responsible and desist from acts such as drunk driving. In fact, he went on to to point out that within a week’s time (last week’s Thursday to this past Thursday) some 788 breathalyser tests were conducted during the nights.
Of those tested, 98 were found to be above the legal limit in terms of alcohol consumption and 53 paid fines and had their licences endorsed. The remaining matters are pending in court.
Friday’s press conference, which was held at the Traffic Headquarters, was a collaboration between the Police, the Guyana National Road Safety Council, the Public Infrastructure Ministry and several Private Sector organisations.
