By Royan Abrams
So far for this year, the Traffic Department in ‘B’ Division, which covers the Berbice Region, has recorded 58 serious accidents which resulted in 26 deaths.
This represents a 100% increase in fatalities when compared to the same period last year. For the comparable period last year, there were 87 serious accidents with 13 deaths.
Deputy Superintendent of Police and Traffic Officer in charge of ‘B’ Division Dennis Stephen told News Room that this is as a result of drivers not observing defensive driving when using the roadways.
“One must take into consideration that you must know your environment and the environment would entail the roadway, the make-up of the road and whether the road would have potholes, if the road is smooth, if the road is wet, must take into consideration the vehicle and if its tyre is intact, the braking system and traffic would also be a part of that make up,” Stephen said.
The Deputy Superintendent related that it is the responsibility of the driver to drive at a rate of speed in order to have control of the vehicle so as to take evasive action in an event other drivers misuse the road.
News Room understands that the highest categories in which road users would have died are pedestrians. It was noted that some of the challenges facing the traffic department are the drying of paddy on the roadways, illegal structures on the road shoulders and abandoned vehicles.
Councillor from the Number 52 74 Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC), Lakram Singh has called on the relevant government ministries to give the NDCs the go-ahead to implement fines against those persons. He added that several requests have been made to the then Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Infrastructure but there has been no response.
“In the nights it is very dangerous to animals and drivers on the road because in some cases animals are being hidden behind these equipment on the road and it would also obstruct the driver from getting the clear view of the road so I will like the Ministry of Communities in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Infrastructure and Public Security to get themselves together and see how we can help in securing lives in our community and afar,” Singh told the News Room.
