An improved traffic system and better safety gear for road users are among measures being looked at by the Guyana National Road Safety Council (GNRSC) to improve safety on the roadways.

The Council and its partners are working to reduce road-related deaths here by 50 per cent under the United Nations’ Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020.

GNRSC Coordinator Ramona Doorgen told Guyana Chronicle that the Council is in the process of signing commitments with various agencies with whom they will team-up to make improvements in managing road safety systems.

Some of the areas concerning the Council include better trained accident reconstruction investigators, the use of safe vehicles and vehicle parts, police operated traffic systems and safety gear for road users.

Doorgen said more training is needed where accident scenes could be reconstructed to give truer depictions of what could have happened, and to provide information that help to make improvements.

She is hoping to make more headway in getting the government and Police Force to link their Jamaican counterparts to commence training in this area.

Under the Decade of Action plan signed by former President Bharrat Jagdeo, Guyana committed to using safe vehicles and equipment on the roadway and speaks directly to the use of used tires.

Doorgen said as it relates to safety gear, GNRSC is partnering with the Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) to work on safety policies for items such as helmets.

She said the law speaks to wearing helmets, but noted the need to re-evaluate for safer types.

The road safety coordinator said the Council will also look at the management of road systems by traffic ranks since she believes training must be continuous in these areas.
Speaking about the East Bank Demerara Public Road traffic system that allows a reverse lane during rush hours, Doorgen believes it is not adequately managed.

Giving her own encounter, see said traffic ranks are directing vehicles to change lanes, but drivers are ending up in the path of oncoming traffic along the journey.

In cases like these, Doorgen said more instruments such as light signals and signs are necessary and the GNRSC would be working with the police to improve the traffic reverse system.

One person has since died during this traffic adjustment.

The correct procedure in operating police escorts was also discussed.

“There are protocols for those things,” Doorgen said. She noted how police escorts sometimes catch drivers off guard because there are no warnings of the entourage.

Doorgen said stakeholders have to sign commitment forms saying that they are going to take up their commitment, and their role and responsibility for road safety in the country.

All the key players must recognise their roles and responsibilities and have it implemented for the plan to work.

GNRSC partners include the Public Security, Education, Public Health, Public Infrastructure and Communities Ministries, the National Bureau of Standards and the Guyana Revenue Authority, among others.