THE most recent report released by the Guyana Police Force (GPF) on traffic matters indicates that road fatalities as at the end of January 2014 have increased by four over the corresponding period for 2013, with 11 fatalities being recorded from 10 accidents in January 2014 compared to seven (7) fatalities having been recorded from six (6) accidents during January 2013. To date, one other person has lost her life on the roadways for February 2014, bringing the total road fatality for the year to 12.
The release added that January 2014 saw reductions in the other categories of accidents, which comprise serious, minor and damage.
Pedestrians have been the main road users affected, with six (6) such persons having lost their lives at the end of January 2014. In addition, three (3) motor cyclists and two (2) pedal cyclists have also lost their lives.
Police say speeding continues to be a major contributing factor to fatal accidents, and was the cause of seven (7) of the 10 fatal accidents recorded at the end of January 2014. The release did state, however, that traffic enforcement by the police during January 2014 resulted in a total of 3,946 cases being made against errant motorists; and that of this total, 1,786 cases were for speeding.
In a previous article by this writer, “Too Many Bite the Dust”, emphasis was placed on speeding as a major road safety problem in all countries, hence the need to reduce speed – ‘a safe road user approach’ articulated by the Guyana National Road Safety Council (GNRSC) and which ultimately seeks to endorse and advance the United Nations’ Decade of Action for Road Safety with a goal to stabilise and then reduce the forecast level (prevent five million road traffic deaths globally) by 2020.
But the spotlight must now be placed on the issues of drinking and driving & drug use and driving, especially, when a headline from the Guyana Chronicle of February 7, 2014 – “Well-heeled drunken driver fingered in Wednesday night’s fatality at Liliendaal” — screams at the reader.
Here are six reasons why attention must be given to drinking and driving and drug use and driving:
* If you drive when a breathalyzer test would record the level of alcohol in your blood stream at twice the legal limit, you are at least 30 times more likely to cause a road crash than a driver who hasn’t been drinking.
* Any amount of alcohol affects your ability to drive. There is no foolproof way of drinking and staying under the limit, or of knowing how much an individual can drink and still drive safely.
* Each person’s tolerance to alcohol depends on a range of factors: weight, gender, age, metabolism, current stress levels, whether they have eaten recently, amount of alcohol consumed.

* Drugs – whether prescription, over-the-counter or illegal — can all impair necessary driving skills, including vision, reaction time, judgment, hearing, and simultaneous task processing/accomplishment.
* Marijuana has been linked to an impaired ability to drive a vehicle, in that concentration is affected, and there is difficulty in perceiving time and distance, which can lead to the following: bad judgment, impaired reaction time, poor speed control, an inability to accurately read signs, drowsiness, and distraction. When marijuana is combined with alcohol, it creates greater impairment in areas such as reaction time and coordination.
* Cocaine may successfully mask fatigue, but high dosages impair judgment and interfere with a driver’s ability to concentrate. Coordination and vision are impaired, and there is an increase in impulsive behaviours, with tendencies to take more risks and create confusion within the user. A person using cocaine maintains the illusion of being alert and stimulated, although physical reactions are impaired.
The foregoing reasons, in this writer’s respectful view, are sufficient to warrant focus on interventions with regard to adequate legislation, deterrent policies, and enforcement to seek to regulate the behaviour of road users in the interest of road safety.
Firstly, credit must be given to Guyana for having a law for driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs. Section 40 (1) of the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act Cap.51:02 reads thus: “Any person who, when driving or attempting to drive, or when in charge of a motor vehicle on a road or other public place, is under the influence of drink or a drug to such an extent as to be incapable of having proper control of the vehicle, shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine of not less than thirty thousand dollars ($30,000) or not more than sixty thousand dollars ($60,000), or to imprisonment for twelve months; and in the case of a second or subsequent conviction, to a fine of not less than forty thousand dollars ($40,000) or more than eighty thousand dollars ($80,000) and to such imprisonment as aforesaid.”
Further, The Evidence and Motor Vehicle and Road Traffic (Amendment) Act, 2008, authorises any member of the Guyana Police Force to prosecute, if he has reasonable cause to suspect that a person driving or attempting to drive, or in charge of a motor vehicle on the road or other public places, has exceeded the prescribed Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) level of 0.08g/dl (equal of two bottles of beer). A driver, who, without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with this requirement, commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not less than $20,000, or an alternative of a prison term of no less than three months.
According to the WHO Global Status Report on Road Safety 2013, strong drink/drive laws protect almost 70% of the world’s population. Setting and enforcing legislation on BAC limits of 0.05 g/dl can lead to significant reductions in alcohol-related crashes. In addition, enforcement of drink-driving laws has been shown to be more effective when it includes random breath tests for all drivers (not just those suspected of drinking), and when it is carried out at times and in locations when drink-driving is more likely to occur.
Such measures that increase drivers’ perception of the likelihood of being apprehended are key to the success of this intervention.
The foregoing beckons for replication by our lawmakers and enforcers. It must be noted that the World Health Organisation (WHO) rates the enforcement of drink/drive laws in Guyana at six (6) on a scale of 10.
And Prime Minister Sam Hinds, who was at the time addressing the launching of Road Safety Month 2013, has observed that no progress has been made relative to enforcing the use of the breathalyser test. He opined: “Comrades, we put in the breathalyser long, but maybe we’ve done no more than that. The facts show that we’ve done nothing further than put the law in place…We should come out with a campaign for vigorous and widespread enforcement of our rules/laws, our breathalyser testing. We have to put it up there in front of all of us. We have to be consistently applying our laws.”
On the other hand, in comparison with the alcohol literature, relatively little information is available regarding the true incidence and prevalence of illegal drug use in reckless driving and impaired driving crashes; and this is due in part to the unavailability of drug detection methods/devices to routinely test for illegal drugs. But with existence of the law for drink and drug driving, and with the advent of the national forensic lab, local police should be able to address this deficit.
However, research on the global position suggests that the reliance solely on the forensic laboratory to assay all specimens in all cases creates a limiting factor for prosecuting DUID cases, because there are simply not enough forensic resources currently available.
Some of the most recent advances in drug testing have been the developments in the rapid point-of-collection testing products. There are at least 50 rapid Point-of-Collection-Testing (POCT) immunoassay devices currently available on the commercial market. While most of these devices are designed to test urine and can be used at a police station, some of these new devices are designed to test oral fluids, and could eventually be used at the roadside.
These POCT devices could be used by police officers to routinely screen impaired driving suspects for illegal drug use, and obtain drug test results immediately, as they currently do with alcohol tests. Having immediate screening results would permit the officer to confront the driver with the drug test result and make an initial charge. The Guyana Police Force certainly needs some POCT devices to boost its enforcement repertoire.
Nevertheless, it will be unfair to leave the problem of drink and drug driving to the police department alone, there ought to be support from the subject ministry, in this instance the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Health, insurance companies, the private sector, civil society, interest groups such as Mothers in Black, the Guyana National Road Safety Council (GNRSC), and the media, among others.
Both the Ministries of Home Affairs and Health should be distributing brochures to the general public about road safety and the danger of alcohol and drugs use, respectively. They should also be publishing whole-page ads in local newspapers and posting information on social media networks in this respect. The private sector should be sponsoring billboards with similar information, and assisting the GPF to procure POCT devices and breathalysers to assist in the prosecution of offenders. Insurance companies, which will inevitably experience high operating costs as a result of the high incidence of indemnity for loss of limb, life and vehicle damage, should have a more national presence and vigilance in combating drink and drug driving and, by extension, promoting road safety.
And the media’s role cannot be overstated in the fight against drink and drug-driving through editorials, commentaries, letter columns, and features both in the print and electronic media.
The GNRSC, according to its coordinator Ms.Ramona Doorgen, for its part, has submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Home Affairs to amend the drink-and-drive law in order to facilitate implementation of the device (POCT) for testing drivers for drugs use.
In my next piece, the focus will be on seat-belt and motorcycle helmet use.
Road Safety is Everybody’s Business!
Sources: (roadtrafficaccidents.net; gina.gov.gy; Guyana Times; WHO Global Status Report on Road Safety 2013; Guyana Chronicle; legalaffairs.gov.gy; inewsguyana.com)
Written By Horace Cummings