By Royan Abrams
The Guyana Police Force Traffic Department in Berbice in collaboration with the Department of Education have kicked off one of several rallies organized to educate and sensitise students on the importance of using the road correctly as part of road safety month 2016.
Over 15 Primary and Secondary schools took part in Tuesday’s rally which started from #64 Village, making its way into the Tagore Memorial Secondary school where the participants gathered for presentations from the Traffic Chief and Superintendent of police in ‘B’ Division Budnarine Persaud, the head Teacher of Tagore Memorial Secondary School, Odetta Johnson, the Deputy Mayor of Corriverton Hemchand Jaichand and other spokespersons.
During the rally, the schools were required to prepare a banner depicting the theme for road safety month; “Life does not have a reset button; Drive carefully”.
Following the rally, the Traffic Chief and Divisional Superintendent of Police implored the students to think about their safety when using the public roads. He reminded the students that not all accidents are caused by speeding but also by pedestrians, specifically children not paying attention on the roadways.
“On many instances our pedal cyclists and pedestrians do use the road carelessly resulting in them sustaining serious injuries and sometimes death and you the children here are our future so you must realize that you are sharing the road with other road users although the road is a very dangerous place so you need to think about your safety and do not take the road lightly” Persaud told the gathering.
So far for this year the Guyana Police Force has recorded 109 deaths across Guyana as a result of road accidents when compared to 101 during the same period last year. According to the Traffic Chief out of the 109 deaths, 30 are pedestrians, 24 motor cyclists and 14 pedal cyclists.
The Traffic Chief reminded the students that persons are being injured as a result of a road accident everyday and “that is why I want you the children to be road safety conscious when using the road because when you visit the hospitals you don’t see cars and buses slinging by their hands and feet, you see people so that is why we habe to think safety all the time”.
At the conclusion of the programme, the students were asked various questions regarding traffic and road safety to which prizes were rewarded. Trophies were also rewarded to the schools achieving first, second and third place in “the best road safety banner competition” during the march.
November is designated Road safety month.
