Coordinator of the Guyana Road Safety Council (GRSC), Ramona Doorgen said her agency recently observed a troubling trend regarding road fatalities. Doorgen told Guyana Standard that persons are now jumping into the pathway of moving vehicles as a means of committing suicide. She said this was observed following the review of footage from the cameras in vehicles involved in several accidents.
In other instances, Doorgen said persons are driving recklessly in an attempt to commit suicide. She noted that while these findings have not been widely reported, the evidence gathered after these accidents have all substantiated the findings.
“… If you go deeper into the investigation, you find that the cameras in the vehicle tell you what you need to know. We found that in one accident on the highway, we saw the person deliberately jump in front of the truck. We found later that the victim had issues at home… We now have to look at this trend and deal with it from a social standpoint,” Doorgen said.
As it relates to speeding, Doorgen said the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Road Safety Council and the Traffic Department are moving quickly to implement a “point deduction system” that will see errant motorists having their licences suspended.
“We don’t think people value their licenses. When we look at the kind of accidents occurring we see that there is no regard for that permit… with the point system, every time there is an infringement or you break the law, you will be given a ticket.
“Once you’re found guilty you will lose points on your ticket. If you’ve accumulated 60 points you then get your licence suspended for as much as six months,” Doorgen said.
She noted that after the licence is suspended, drivers will then have to go through a series of mechanisms to have their licences returned.
The ticketing system is already operational. The e-ticketing system, which was tested last year, is expected to bring some order on Guyana’s roadways. With this system, any traffic offender would be automatically flagged and issued a traffic ticket. This system, which is being monitored by the Guyana Police Force (GPF) has already caught over 2000 defaulting drivers.
Calls for the foregoing measures, among others have been reiterated in recent times, especially when one considers the growing number of road fatalities for 2023. Guyana Standard understands that 38 persons have died so far for the year from 31 road accidents. From the 38 lives lost, there was the death of one child.
