Road deaths up by 51% this year; 112 fatalities recorded so far

While addressing a road safety camp organised by the Guyana National Road Safety Council today, Works Minister Juan Edghill revealed that 112 persons have lost their lives to road accidents so far for this year from more than 103 serious road accidents.

Road deaths up by 51% this year; 112 fatalities recorded so far

Despite a curfew and other coronavirus measures being in place for the last six months, the number of fatal road accidents has increased by 51% when compared to the same period one year ago.

While addressing a road safety camp organised by the Guyana National Road Safety Council today, Works Minister Juan Edghill revealed that 112 persons have lost their lives to road accidents so far for this year from more than 103 serious road accidents.

He said the work of the road safety council is welcomed at this time as increased efforts are being employed to tackle the lawlessness on the roads.

“The Government sees this as an important venture, as there has been a 17% increase in pedestrian deaths in 2020, as was seen for the same period in 2019. All be it we are currently being faced with a Global Pandemic, the Guyana Police Force has recorded, as of last evening an alarming 51% increase in fatalities for this year in comparison to last year, this is of serious concern to our Government and we intend to leave no stone unturned, as we seek to identify methods that can be implemented to make our country’s roadways safe” Minister Edghill said.  

He said that as part of the government’s urban improvement strategy, more lighting, pedestrian walkways, and bike lanes will be incorporated with roadworks.

Medicine Specialist at the Georgetown Hospital, Dr. Tracey Bovell said the health care system is worried about the alarming number of persons being rushed to the hospital and admitted because of road accidents.

“Now imagine we have the COVID-19 Pandemic and yet we have a crisis that is actually avoidable, that is something we can do; that is why we have actually moved away from saying road traffic accidents, because an accident is something unpredictable, and we are seeing more road traffic crashes because when we know you are actually driving and driving, we kind of know already where this is ending up. Isn’t that so? It is a problem that only gets worse if we do nothing about it and the difficulty is the crisis is not going to just go away with us just wishing about it” Dr. Bovell said.

Traffic Chief Ramesh Ashram said the Police Force has been working on a strategy to combat the carnage on the roadways, but drivers also need to be much more cautious.

“Where drivers see police they will adhere, and up the East Coast and the East Bank, this was a strategy that I came up with and so you will find especially at the busy hours, Police will be along these stretches”, he said.

The National Road Safety Council is preparing to roll out a number of activities to address drunk driving and other causes of road accidents.

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