Taxi driver dies in high speed city collision

A SHERIFF taxi driver was killed in an early morning accident yesterday at Robb and Wellington Streets, Georgetown, when motor cars HB 9018 and PNN 1530 collided at high speed at the junction.

altTaxi driver 34-year-old Joel Baynes of 64 ‘B’ Haslington North, East Coast Demerara who received severe injuries was pronounced dead on arrival at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation. He leaves to mourn his wife Tyiwdale Baynes, two children Joshua, 1, and Juliana, 2, five brothers, his parents, other relatives and friends.alt
According to reports, around 2:15 am yesterday, taxi HB 9018 was travelling east along Robb Street at a fast rate while the other vehicle PNN 1530 was proceeding south along Wellington Street, also at a fast rate. The police in a statement said that the driver of PNN 1530 failed to stop at the intersection and collided with HB 9018 which had the right-of-way.
altThe taxi ended up smashing into the nearby Digicom building, extensively damaging the entire northern section. Meanwhile, the driver of motorcar PNN 1530 is in police custody assisting with the investigations.

When the Guyana Chronicle visited Digicom yesterday morning, the debris at the front of the building was already cleared up and a contractor was on hand to estimate the damage before commencing repair works.
The Chronicle also visited the family of the taxi driver who died in the crash. The dead man’s father, Franklin Baynes, said his daughter-in-law called him and told him that his son was in an accident.
Baynes, a Pastor and former Postmaster, further stated that the dispatcher from the ‘taxi base’ in Georgetown also called him and told him “to don’t bring the wife because he did not make it.”alt
However, after they arrived at the hospital and saw him, they were informed that the other driver left his car and fled from the scene of the accident.
The inconsolable mother told this publication that her son was always a jovial person, loving and nothing was more important than his family, especially his two children.

WIFE DEVASTATED
When asked how his daughter-in-law was taking the tragedy, Joel’s father replied that “she devastated, fainting a lot but she ialts receiving support from her sister and the rest of the family.”
The distraught father stated that the post-mortem will be done tomorrow and the funeral will take place sometime next week so as to allow relatives who live overseas to  come.

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