Drivers instructed to visit accident victims in hospitals 

Drivers responsible for injuring persons in accidents are now being instructed to visit those victims in hospitals as part of a new strategy to combat reckless and dangerous driving.

This was revealed by the Chairman of the National Road Safety Council Earl Lambert at the official launch of Road Safety Month in New Amsterdam, Region Six on Wednesday.

“We will get drivers that were involved in accidents to go to hospitals to visit victims, they must see the damage they have caused,” Lambert revealed. He did not explain how exactly this will be implemented and if this will also extend to fatal accident victims but said the strategy is aimed at sending a message for drivers to be more careful on the road.

“We are on track to changing our culture as to how we deal with road safety, we can’t come every time every year to observe road safety, and then when we go back on the road we see lawlessness,” Lambert explained.

Since 2017, a total of 510 people have lost their lives in road accidents and according to Lambert, this is 510 too many.

“We have got to put a stopping to the way we use the road and we have got to think about others when we use the road,” Lambert urged.

Meanwhile, accident survivor, 35-year-old Monix Hetemeyer had one of her legs amputated after a car slammed into her and a friend while they were having dinner at the Big B restaurant in New Amsterdam in February this year.

Hetmeyer is a Lecturer at the University of Guyana and a teacher at the New Amsterdam Secondary School. The mother and wife said that night changed her life forever.

“On February 20th everything in my life changed, my left leg was amputated as a result of an accident I was involved in. I was sitting outside of Big B’s snackette having dinner and a lovely conversation with a friend when out of nowhere a vehicle plowed into our table propelling us through the glass window and into the snackette,” Hetemeyer recounted.

Even though she is now living with a disability, Hetmeyer is back at work. She has refused to let the incident define the rest of her life. What was worrisome for her, was that the driver of the car was unlicensed.

“Now I have a disability as a result of someone else’s negligence on the road,” Hetemeyer said. She reminded drivers that they should value their lives and the lives of others and hopes there can be fewer accidents on the roadways.

Before the accident, Hetemeyer regularly participated in school and church events.

“I persisted despite the difficult rehabilitation process both mentally and physically taxing, additionally I had to find extra money to pay for all of my medical expenses.”

She reminded drivers that they should value their lives and the lives of others and hopes there can be fewer accidents on the roadways.

“Breaking road safety regulations is a blatant display of irresponsibility, I beg drivers to beg carefully since doing so can help protect your life and the lives of others, I understand what it is to be a victim of this sort of accident and I would not want it for anybody,” the accident survivor said.