THE Guyana Police Force (GPF) Traffic Department has managed to dismantle the group of drag racers that would race each other in fast and expensive vehicles during the early hours of the morning from University of Guyana Road to Liliendaal Pump Station Road, East Coast Demerara highway.Traffic Chief Ian Amsterdam told this publication on Wednesday that they had received many complaints of the 3:00am activity and they did some surveillance work and so the group has disappeared.

He stated that they have not had any reports of such drag racing in weeks but he does not know whether they have moved to a new location. However, he is urging persons with information to report it to any police station or to him directly.

It was reported that during the wee hours of the morning around 2:00am and 3:00am a group of young men in fast and expensive vehicles would conduct drag races.

Those in the group were said to be children of upper class folks who own businesses and they would engage in that activity for sheer fun and sport.
EXTRA ‘HD’ LIGHTS
Meanwhile, Amsterdam related that the Traffic Department is very concerned about the wanton use of extra high definition (HD) lights being outfitted on the front of vehicles, including cars.

He said that it is not safe, especially at nights, when HD lights are turned on as they can affect drivers of oncoming vehicles, temporarily blinding them and that can result in an accident.

The Senior Superintendent added that drivers with those extra HD lights need to dip it at nights and advised drivers to pull over and stop if they are affected with the extra bright lights since it is not suitable for regular roads.

Amsterdam noted that extra HD lights are usually outfitted on vehicles that traverse trails but they are too bright for regular roads.
REPORT HD LIGHTS ABUSERS
He advised that persons who are affected can make a report once they note the license number of the vehicle that is outfitted with those extra HD lights.

The Traffic Chief said while some vehicles are manufactured with the HD lights, others take it on themselves to install the extra HD lights on their vehicles for reasons unknown.
USING FOUR-LANE HIGHWAY
Amsterdam also noted that the use of the four-lane highway is not being understood by some drivers since they drive at an extra slow rate of speed in any lane.

He advised that once persons are driving very slowly, they should use the left side lane since they should not drive slowly in any lane to hinder the free flow of traffic.

Amsterdam stated that he does not condone speeding but once it is within the speed limit, one can drive at that rate on the four-lane highway.

However, motorists need to reduce speed in school zones. The Traffic Chief explained that some motorists do not exercise caution when approaching school zones but there are visible road signs which indicate it is a school area and children are expected on the road.

He pointed out that motorists are asked to reduce speed and look out for children on the roads as well as school safety patrols and cooperate with them to cross the roads at the pedestrian crossings.