“Why they ain’t slowing down?” – victim’s brother speaks out

Leonora fatal accident

With the high road carnage in Guyana, the families of victims are convinced and have been voicing that the penalty for delinquent drivers is too lenient.

Yet another accident victim’s family is calling on the authorities to impose stiffer penalties on those who drive recklessly.
Kempton Carter, the brother of 39-year-old Romel Carter who died after being hit by an alleged speeding truck along the Leonora Public Road, West Coast Demerara (WCD), is pleading drivers to stop speeding while demanding justice for his deceased sibling.
In an interview with Guyana Times on Tuesday, a grieving Carter strongly maintained that many reckless drivers are traversing roadways because of slack punishment.

“They ain’t getting no sort of sentence, they just knocking down people, go and spend two to three days in jail or couple months and they out back in the road again. These drivers need to get some more time in jail let them pay and learn from the mistake, so next time and even other drivers would know to take their time cause they know the penalty is serious,” he said. He added that his family is now one of the many families who are left to face the frustration of getting justice and dealing with the loss of a loved one.
The driver responsible for his brother’s death was released on station bail following the accident on December 1.
“I met with the officer in charge at the Leonora Police Station…he told me that they had to release him on $100,000 bail after 72 hours because nobody identified the body…It’s really hard on us now, this is the first death because it’s ten of us and we ain’t getting no satisfaction from the Police. I’m calling on the authority, the Commissioner of Police to look into this and gave us some answers and let us know what’s really going on with the matter,” Carter explained.
The younger Carter is preparing to lay his brother to rest on Thursday and is urging his fellow drivers to be cautious and alert on the roadways since they’re mistake can cause someone’s family grief.
“I don’t know why they keep driving like this, I’m a driver myself and I see what happening every day…why they ain’t slowing down? Why they keep speeding? And all these accidents happening on this roadway. It’s a very small country, it’s not supposed to be happening…It hard when somebody loses a family, friend like that, get hit down just like that by a speeding driver,” he said.
The older Carter was described as a happy person. He leaves to mourn his parents, siblings and other relatives.
“Everybody knows he likes to make joke and is a fun person. He don’t get into no problem, if you go into the neighbourhood, people would tell you he is a happy person but guess is all the good and jolly people that just dies”.
The accident, which took the now-dead man’s life, occurred at about 13:30h, in close proximity of the Leonora Police Station, WCD.
After the accident, the driver of the truck which hit him picked up the injured man and took him to the hospital for treatment but after realising that the pedestrian was dead, he allegedly attempted to flee but was arrested by the Police.
It was further reported that at the time of the accident, there were two other occupants of the truck who made contact with Police to notify them of the accident.