–  as heavy-duty hydraulic truck grounds to halt on East Bank road
THERE was high drama just off the Demerara Harbour Bridge road yesterday afternoon when, at around 15:30 h, a somewhat intoxicated woman, a motor cyclist and one of Courtney Benn’s heavy-duty hydraulic truck pulling a low-bed facility with a crane mounted on it, tried desperately to avoid a collision, even as they    all competed for limited space in the same lane on the Bagotstown Public Road just  outside  the Harbour Bridge Mall.
Eyewitnesses said it was a miracle no one was crushed, but quick thinking by driver of the hydraulic vehicle caused him to quickly swerve from the pedestrian and motor cyclist, with his truck ending up on the concrete curb wall dividing the road.
The motor cyclist and his bike reportedly crashed to the ground, and how the motor cycle managed to land on the pedestrian, this newspaper has been unable to verify.

However, at the Georgetown Public Hospital where the pedestrian was taken, the woman who gave her name as Bibi Zabeda Hussain, 54, was complaining of pains about her body after coming into contact with the machine, she said.  However, the motor cyclist was not available for questioning, and may have been invited to the Providence Police Station.

Hussain recalled that around 15:30h, she was coming from the Money Gram Cash Transfer facility in the Harbour Mall when, as she attempted to cross the road, she saw the motor cycle and became confused.

Hussain admitted that she had been celebrating with relatives and friends and was a ‘bit tipsy’.
As the truck crashed into the curb wall, the axle was broken and both wheels had to be removed. But at the end of it all, the strength and durability of the curb-wall concrete facility constructed by the same Courtney Benn contractors was severely tested and withstood the test.
Following the accident, several police ranks – both junior and senior – arrived on the scene and remained there for hours, assisting with traffic control after traffic virtually grounded to a halt.