ON Sundays a section of the East Coast Highway is converted to a drag racing speedway for CBR motorcycles and cars, starting from the junction of University Gardens and concluding in the vicinity of the Ocean View International Hotel.

The races occupy the southern section of the highway and usually draw a good turnout of spectators, supporters and those who bet huge sums on a particular driver or rider and his machine.
This practice now mirrors the horse cart races along Homestretch Avenue each Sunday morning and which the Traffic Department is still to bring under control.
It is widely believed that the persons involved in the exciting but dangerous and illegal drag races have found a way to ensure that each time the races are set to take off the police are not aware.
While there are claims that the police are being socialised to turn a blind eye to the practice, this newspaper has no evidence to confirm this.
In fact, this publication is aware that the Guyana Police Force Sunday scrambled to have its ranks swoop down on the East Coast highway drag racing procession but by the time the police arrived at the location, all the races were concluded.
The police in the past have issued advisories to persons on how they should use the roadways and would from time to time highlight the many negative spinoffs of accidents.

(By Leroy Smith)