New road intelligence system helping to reduce reckless driving but more work needed – Traffic Chief

Traffic Chief Assistant Commissioner, Mahendra Singh said the Safe Road Intelligence System has been helping to reduce reckless driving on Guyana’s roadways but opined that greater cooperation from all stakeholders is needed.

In a recent interview with the News Room, Singh said thousands of tickets for offences have been issued already but payments are a challenge. He explained that those payments are largely made at the discretion of drivers.

Without warrants being issued for unpaid tickets or ex-parte trials being conducted in court, he said further, more drivers aren’t deterred from reckless or poor driving habits.

For him, drivers must feel “intimidated” by the system to understand they cannot continue business as usual on the roads.

Meanwhile, Singh said the ticketing system, which relies on 14 operable pieces of equipment, is being still being rolled out and currently lacks the full coverage needed to restrict speeding motorists and enable smarter traffic management.

“If it was covered in that way, it would restrict the ability of the motorist to speed; it would enable us to do more smart traffic management without conflict or prejudice. The safe road intelligence system will save lives,” Singh recently told the News Room.

The automated system was officially launched on April 7, 2025. It was developed primarily to monitor speeding. However, it also detects a range of other offences, including tinted windows, coloured lights, and failure to wear seat belts.

The system is calibrated by the Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) and is supported by recent amendments to the Motor Vehicle and Road Traffic Act, Chapter 51:02.