With an increase of road accidents involving heavy duty trucks, President Irfaan Ali called in the Police Commissioner, the Traffic Chief and the Top Brass of the Police Force this morning to press them to arrest the traffic chaos taking place in the country.

In a statement after the meeting, the President said the reckless and indiscipline use of the roads, especially by truck drivers cannot be allowed to continue.

“While we will hold truck drivers responsible, I have asked the Attorney General to examine the laws and see where there are gaps, so truck owners can also have the responsibility of ensuring their drivers work within guidelines. As it is now, the law provides for the suspension of license, and I have asked the Traffic Chief, and the Commissioner of Police, and the leadership of the Guyana Police Force to take immediate steps to have this law implemented fully”.

In the past three years, Guyana has seen the number of heavy duty trucks on the country’s roadways growing by more than 3000. The Police Force has also reported a massive increase in road accidents involving speeding trucks. Just two days ago, an electrical engineer who was out jogging, lost his life when two speeding trucks crashed along Sheriff Street and one of them slammed into him.

President Ali said there must be more done to tackle the lawless use of the roadways. He said based on information from the police, with all of the recklessness taking place on the roadways, only 18 drivers licenses have been suspended for the year.

“Drivers on the whole, but especially those truck drivers, and public transportation drivers, I am asking you, not to do anything special, but all I am asking you to do, in the interest of saving lives is to comply with the law, and comply with the rules”, he said.

The President said more body cams will be procured for Traffic Officers to use in the execution of their duties and the Police Force will also rely more on the use of CCTV cameras along the roadways. The President said it has become clear that too many of the drivers on the roadways appear to have no regard for their own lives, but continue to put the lives of others in danger.

Guyana has lost more than 100 persons to road accidents for the year already.

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