By Daniel Haynes

A PREGNANT woman travelling with her husband (the driver) and toddler in Toyota Premio HC 4645 had to be rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital early on Sunday morning after that vehicle became involved in a smash-up with Nissan Dualis PVV 4218 at the corner of Croal and Albert Streets, Georgetown at about 08:45hrs on Sunday.Reports reaching the Guyana Chronicle are that the Premio was proceeding west along Croal Street when the collision with the Dualis, which was heading south into Sandeman Place towards Brickdam, occurred. The Premio ended up with one wheel hanging over the gutter, while the Dualis came to a dead stop in the middle of Croal Street.

The woman, injured by the impact of the collision, was pulled by her husband from the car in a bleeding state, and shortly thereafter was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital by a driver who was near the South Road Full Gospel Church. Her husband and child accompanied her.

Karen Vansluytman, driver of the Dualis, said she was heading to her office at the Labour Department at time of the accident. “I was coming to the corner to cross, and I couldn’t see so I eased out the car; and when I saw him I go to stop but my foot was on the accelerator and not the brakes, and I crashed into him,” she said. “I wasn’t travelling at any speed, but he was speeding,” the woman added.

Eyewitnesses have, however, said the taxi was not speeding but was travelling at a slow rate at the time of the collision. Several of the Premio driver’s co-workers, including the owner of the service, described him as one of the safest drivers, and said the woman’s contention that he was speeding could not hold true.

Several accidents have occurred at the corner at Croal and Albert Streets. A building, Status Hotel, is at the corner of Croal and Sandeman Place (continuation of Albert Street). Opposite the hotel is a parking lot which some drivers say poses an obstruction to their clear vision of the road ahead.
Croal Street is a right-of-way.