DRIVING through Georgetown’s many avenues, small lanes and cross streets, it is abundantly clear that the “fender bender” is a consistent concern. These streets make driving manual in a way the larger arteries do not, because not only are there no traffic lights, drivers don’t always follow right-of-way rules, forcing those with the right of way to either blow their horns at each corner or drive very cautiously. Needless to say, on occasions there is a miscommunication and vehicles bump, costing drivers tens of thousands in repairs.

On the other hand, one seldom hears of accidents which take lives in these cross-streets, largely due perhaps to the fact that it is difficult to reach a high enough speed to truly fuel a deadly crash. Instead, car accidents tend to be reported on the East Bank and East Coast roads, because these relatively straight roads carry long stretches without traffic lights and cross-streets, where it is clear the main road has the right of way. As a result, drivers can certainly bring their vehicles up to higher speeds, and deadly crashes ensue.

Guyana is likely to embark on many road development projects aiming to improve access to our interior regions over next decade and this raises an important safety question. After all, the “fender bender” may be the scourge of Georgetown, but it pales in comparison to the thought of a steady increase in road deaths due to the development of these highways. And it is highways, where drivers can be allowed to drive at speeds of 80 miles an hour or even without limits as they do in Germany, that we should expect, as the push to connect all corners of Guyana builds out over time.

Rather than it taking a full day to travel from Lethem to Georgetown, our eventual hope must certainly be to bring that drive down to merely several hours of relative comfort. Aspiration toward four, six and eight-lane highways at the very least should be our standard. But, if we already so often have accidents on our relatively small two or four-lane highways, then one can only imagine the wreckage an eight-lane would unleash.
This brings us to another question of allegations of rife corruption in the issuing of drivers’ licences. It is good to see a thorough investigation taking place and multiple officers being disciplined as a result. If the numbers in these allegations are in any way representative of the true distribution of illegal versus legal drivers’ licences, then it is no small wonder that there are an infinite number of “fender benders” in Georgetown and so many deaths outside the city.

The only reason people can safely drive at the higher speeds that eight-lane highways allow is because everyone has a thorough understanding of the rules involved and is fully compliant. The undertaking that is regularly practised by minibuses on Homestretch Avenue could lead to a very serious accident in the wrong circumstances and we can afford very few wrong circumstances when speeds are doubled on large highways. The current effort to clean up the drivers’ licensing process needs to carry on as a general culture against corruption when lives are at stake.

It is perhaps perceived as less serious a matter when someone carrying an illegal driver’s licence merely drives around Georgetown, with little risk of a deadly accident. But if Guyana is to build the roads to truly open up our country, this perception will prove quite outdated. Faster speeds mean better adherence to the rules– after all, lives are not fenders and cross-streets will never get us to Lethem in a hurry.