ACTING Chairman of the Guyana National Road Safety Council (GNRSC), retired Major General Norman McLean said, last week, there is need for the Traffic Department of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) to have breathalysers at all stations or at least two in each division.

Speaking at a press briefing to usher in Road Safety Month, he was responding to questions on how equipped the GPF Traffic Department is with breathalysers.
He noted that there is only one in ‘D’ Division but the police there are doing well despite the limitations.
McLean, himself a former Traffic Chief, said he knows, for a fact, that there are not enough breathalysers at Police Stations because, for example, a man had an accident on the East Coast Demerara and since there was no such instrument there, he was taken to Georgetown where there was none too.
Eventually, the man was transported to West Coast Demerara where the test was done.
In the meantime, if the man was under the influence of alcohol, he had time to sober up, given the limitations of the police and the time it took for a breathalyser test to be administered, McLean related.
However, Chairman of the ‘D’ Division RSC, Shahab Hack said the police on West Coast Demerara are doing a good job as shown by the number of prosecutions, although they only have one breathalyser.

Garnering funds
He added that, as such, they are in the process of garnering funds for the purchase of a breathalyser for the police in that division and, at the end of their list of activities to mark Road Safety Month, they will donate 15 traffic cones.
Hack said it is especially during the night that the Traffic Police do not have the tools to carry out their duties and they are on the roads stopping vehicles with their hands, without vests and cones.
He said they want to make those things available for the police, so they will be equipped to function effectively on traffic duties.
Hack pointed out, as well, that they are in the process of putting up signs, to illuminate dark areas on public roads where there is heavy overgrowth of grass and weeds.
For Road Safety Month, the GNRSC has planned a series of activities in all Police Divisions to have a hyped awareness on the impact of road accidents and fatalities.
The GNRSC will, next year, erect a wall, at a cost of $5.2M, with the names of traffic victims to be placed in the National Park, Carifesta Avenue, Georgetown.
They are working, as well, with ‘Mothers in Black’ to raise funds for the undertaking.
The theme for Road Safety Month 2013 is ‘Alcohol, speed and inattentiveness cause accidents; drive wisely to save lives.’
So far for this year, the GPF Traffic Department recorded 77 road accidents with 83 deaths as compared to 82 accidents and a similar number of deaths in 2012, for the corresponding period.

(By Michel Outridge)