THE Guyana National Road Safety Council (GNRSC) yesterday launched their education/awareness programme which was assented to by Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee at Umana Yana, Kingston, Georgetown at a ceremony in which they unveiled the banner. Chairperson of the GNRSC, Mrs. Ramona Doorgen said a series of activities will be launched in educating the public about road safety.
Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee spoke of the need for more traffic ranks and the implementation of road wardens. He also emphasised the fact that “Road Safety is Everybody’s Business” and urged all road users to play a part in promoting road safety in making our roads safer.
Rohee said: “Human factor is so critical that more emphasis must be placed on education in road safety in which people, resources, and time should be set aside.”
The minister added that education and enforcement must go hand in hand to promote road safety, in which two sets of people, civilian and law enforcement must work together to bring road users together to let them know of their roles in road safety.
Meanwhile, Chairman of GNRSC- Surendra Khayyam revealed that the road fatality figure is alarming with 72 deaths recorded for the year so far with about 10 persons dying on the roads every week.
He added that they have been training road safety volunteers and so far 323 persons have been trained, noting that road safety is connected to the human resource factor and the aim is for the entire country to be road safety conscious.
Mr. Khayyam called on everyone to promote road safety,stationg that”Change rests with us”.
He said: “Twenty-five pedestrians died this year in said, road accidents, we cannot allow this to continue.”
The GNRSC Chairman stated that November has been designated road safety month and as such Regions 1, 4, 7, 8 will be targeted by the organisation in establishing road safety councils.
He noted that 700 children have been trained in road safety in public schools and 25 in private schools.”
Co-founder of Mothers in Black/Alicea Foundation, Denise Dias said that saving lives through education on our roads is critical in road safety because too many of our young people have been killed on the roads.
She stated that road safety should be taught in schools regularly and asked drivers to be responsible.
Dias however, urged all to spread knowledge with the aim of saving lives.
Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation representative, Sahodra Rampersaud said that Guyana has taken action to promote road safety in saving lives.
She spoke of collaborative efforts in strengthening road safety through education.
Representative of the Guyana Police Force, Senior Superintendent, Brian Joseph told the gathering that support and cooperation from citizens are needed in promoting road safety through education.
Police Traffic Headquarters, Eve Leary, Georgetown, reported yesterday that 72 persons including seven children have lost their lives from 66 road accidents.
While for the corresponding period last year, 63 deaths were recorded in 62  accidents.