Unidentified pedestrian killed after walking into path of truck

An unidentified pedestrian met his demise on Monday after he was struck by a truck along the Agricola Public Road, Greater Georgetown. The accident reportedly occurred at about 07:10h and involved a truck driven by a 33-year-old man of Soesdyke Public Road, East Bank Demerara (EBD).
Police investigations revealed that the truck was proceeding towards Georgetown along the Agricola Public Road at the time when the third lane for northbound traffic was activated.
However, in the vicinity of Agricola road head, the driver claimed that he observed a man standing on the median but he suddenly attempted to cross the road without paying attention to the southbound traffic.
As such, he walked into the path of the truck, thus causing a collision. As he fell onto the roadway, the truck’s rear right side wheel ran over both of his legs.
He was picked up in an unconscious state and rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital where he was attended to by a doctor on duty and admitted in a critical condition. He would have suffered severe head injuries, internal bleeding and broken legs.
The pedestrian, nevertheless, succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday morning at about 07:30h while being treated in the Emergency Unit. Following the accident, the driver of the truck was taken into custody and he is assisting with investigations.
On Monday, at the launch of Road Safety Week, Traffic Chief Ramesh Ashram disclosed that fatal accidents in Guyana for the year thus far have increased by a whopping 37 per cent when compared to the same time in 2019.
“When we look at the comparison of last year and this year to date, we see clearly that there is a increase in fatal accidents,” Senior Superintendent Ashram noted.
For the year 2020, there were 115 accidents, resulting in 125 deaths. From the fatalities, five were children. In comparison, the same period in 2019 recorded 84 accidents and 94 deaths. A significant amount of these accidents was caused by speeding and intoxicated drivers.
Meanwhile, the Traffic Department has made a total of 46,266 cases against errant drivers thus far – 19,179 of the cases were for speeding, 786 for driving under the influence of alcohol, 1924 for breaching traffic light signals and 986 for failure to wear seat belts. Some cases were made out against persons who were using their mobile phones while driving.
He reiterated that the loss of so many lives for the year thus far is unacceptable while stressing that in order to enable safer roadways for both pedestrians and drivers, the traffic rules must be adhered to.
“We as road users need to change our attitude and driving habits, follow the traffic rules and guidelines and adopt disciplined road safety measures, which is important in promoting safe driving practice which play an effort in achieving safer roads, streets and highways,” the Traffic Chief noted.