Police appeal for drivers to become certified

– as unlicensed motorcyclist hospitalised after Wakenaam crash

The Guyana Police Force (GPF) is urging road users, particularly those behind the wheel, to ensure that they are properly certified to operate on the roadways.
“The [GPF’s] Traffic Department is appealing to persons to use the roadways with care, caution, courtesy, consideration and common sense. Persons who are unlicensed should desist from driving and apply to the GPF for their certification,” the Force’s Communication Unit said in a media release on Saturday.
It was at the time reporting a serious accident at Wakenaam, Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), that resulted in an unlicensed motorcyclist being hospitalised.
Reports are that sometime around 17:50h, 24-year-old Cleon Venture of Lot A Melville, Wakenaam Island, was driving a motorcycle (number unknown) on Noitgedacht Public Road, Wakenaam, when he collided into a parked motor car, PZZ 9626.
Police say Venture lost control of the motorcycle, fell onto the road’s surface and skidded under the front portion of the car, which was parked on the parapet of the road.
As a result, the motorcyclist received injuries to his head and body.
He was picked up in a conscious state by public-spirited persons and taken to the Wakenaam Cottage Hospital, where he was treated and later transferred to the Suddie Public Hospital on the Essequibo Coast, where he has been admitted a patient in a stable condition.
Nevertheless, Police are continuing their investigations.
Only earlier this month, three bystanders were killed on the De Willem Public Road, West Coast Demerara, after a young unlicensed driver crashed into them. The driver was reportedly racing with another vehicle along the public road.
Nineteen-year-old Matthew Ambedkar of Tuschen Housing Scheme, East Bank Essequibo (EBE), has since been charged with three counts of causing death by dangerous driving and remanded to prison to prison until March 24.
It was reported that on March 7 last, the teen was driving at a fast rate of speed when he lost control of the vehicle and crashed into the Sharmila Harrykissoon Sports Bar, thus resulting in the death of Carlito Gobinlall, 23, a Venezuelan national; Ayube Mohammed, 44, a fisherman of Meten-Meer-Zorg, WCD, and Kiram Rampersaud, 41, of Zeeburg. The deceased trio was standing outside the bar at the time.
Previous reports stated that Gobinlall was thrown several feet away and landed in front of a pharmacy while Mohamed was found under the debris and Rampersaud was found inside a drain.
The teen driver was also injured along with two other patrons of the bar – Wazim Mohammed and Chandrika Veerasammy, both of De Willem.
Following the accident, Police confirmed that a breathalyser test was administered on the teenager but there were no traces of alcohol in his system.
Meanwhile, on the morning of February 23, another unlicensed driver was killed after the motor car he was operating crashed into a truck along the Schoonord Public Road, West Bank Demerara (WBD).
While 49-year-old Joseph Charles of Lodge, Georgetown, died at the scene, another occupant of the vehicle, 23-year-old Alex Saul, was also injured in the crash.
Police had reported that at around 08:30h, the motor lorry was proceeding north along the western side of the Schoonord Public Road while the motor car was proceeding south along the eastern drive lane of the said road at a fast rate of speed.
The car’s driver reportedly lost control of the vehicle and collided with the front right side of the lorry. The car then spun around and collided with another motor car.
Both Charles and Saul were taken out of the motor car in unconscious conditions and taken to the West Demerara Regional Hospital, the former was pronounced dead and the latter was admitted with a fractured left hip and leg.