Police say electric motorcycles behind surge in wrong-way road use

Police are expressing growing concern over what they describe as a dangerous surge in wrong-way traffic caused by electric motorcycle riders, many of whom, they say, are habitually ignoring Guyana’s road laws.
Officers from Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) say the problem has now become so widespread that it contributes daily to collisions, near misses, and congestion on major public roadways.

During a recent road safety programme, Sergeant Tenisha Punch, who is attached to the traffic department in Regional Division #3, explained that electric cycle riders routinely cut across lanes, ride against traffic, and disregard basic road safety signs.
“These electric motorcycles, they just ride, and they see a spot to drive over… they just dash over,” she said. According to the officer, when these riders cause collisions, they often refuse to accept responsibility, claiming the lawful drivers are at fault. “Somebody collided with them, and the person – they claim the person is wrong.”
Police say the issue is compounded by a consistent pattern of wrong-way riding. “Most of them do that. Most of them,” the sergeant emphasised, adding that it is rare to find an electric motorcycle rider using the correct side of the roadway.
In many cases, officials believe the behaviour stems from unfamiliarity with Guyana’s road system.
“I thought it was just the Spanish people… riding on the wrong side… apparently because of the country that they’re coming from. That is the side they normally ride,” the Chairman of the Road Safety Council, Earl Lambert, noted, but stressed that the practice remains illegal in Guyana.
Efforts to educate riders have met little success, with officers saying the riders revert to the wrong side as soon as they pass police.
“As much as you put them on the right side, after they pass you, they come back over,” Punch explained.
The officer added that Guyana’s laws already make provisions for regulating these electric cycles, but the regulations are not yet fully implemented.
“The law is there… they had to get an announcement… but it’s not here,” she said, calling for urgent enforcement and licensing requirements, especially as electric cycles become increasingly common nationwide.
Police say they plan to elaborate further on the issue in upcoming public education campaigns, insisting that the rising number of electric cycles on the road presents a real and immediate threat to road safety.
“You gotta keep educating them… “They’re not in the country, in a different country,” one rank said. Officers maintain that until riders comply with the law, wrong-way collisions and traffic disorder will continue to escalate.
In May 2023, there was a passage of several amendments to the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Bill in the National Assembly. E-bike users are now required to follow the same rules as motorcyclists on the road and carry the relevant documents to use the roadways.
In that same year, the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) began registering these e-bikes at the Licence Revenue Office, Lamaha Railway Embankment, Camp and Lamaha Streets, and Integrated Regional Tax Offices (IRTOs) countrywide.