There has been a noticeable decrease in both fatal and ‘damaged’ accidents on the Linden-Soesdyke Highway following the initiation of a night patrol by the Guyana Police Force’s ‘E’ Division.

The highway is one of the main thoroughfares in Guyana where accidents occur primarily during the nights, and the unavailability of lighting to guide the visibility of drivers, especially those not familiar with the terrain, has been deemed a major factor in causing accidents.

Speeding too, is a major concern and this prompted the traffic department of ‘E’ Division (Upper Demerara-Upper Berbice), to initiate the night patrol. The initiative has proven to be very effective, according to Commander of ‘E’ Division, Linden Lord.
Commander Lord told Guyana Chronicle that the figures show that since the patrol has gone into effect, not only have there been fewer accidents, but fewer reports of dangerous driving. The traffic ranks patrol from the Mackenzie junction to Dora, where the Division stops.

Another mission for the patrol is to monitor logging trucks that are not adhering to the Traffic Laws, which stipulate that all trucks should be parked between 06:00 hours and 18:00 hours. While parked, they must also be accessorised with the necessary reflecting tools.

Consultants of Beston SRKN’gineering Company, who have been hired to conduct a feasibility study for the rehabilitation of the Linden-Soesdyke Highway, told the regional officials that their axle load survey revealed that heavy duty trucks continue to break the law in relation to load limitation. In one day 1,199 trucks were seen traversing the highway at Soesdyke. The heaviest of these weighed 19.0 axle tonnes which is a significant overload of the 7.2 axle tonnes that the highway was built to carry.

Regional officials are likely to collaborate with the Guyana Police Force to clamp down on these trucks, especially at nights, and, according to Commander Lord, the night patrol is very effective in doing just that.

“So we have a nightly patrol, traffic ranks patrolling that corridor in the night, because you know those trucks, with the logs protruding in the night, you can get into a lot of trouble and even if they park they must have these cones around them,” he said. The division intends to continue the exercise for as long as possible.

In addition to initiating the night patrols, ‘E’ Division recently established a mobile police outpost on the Highway in the vicinity of Bamia. It is in operation for 24hrs and ranks are engaged in traffic patrols throughout the day. While the primary purpose of the outpost is to monitor criminal elements entering Linden and to make it difficult for suspects to escape, it also serves as an effective tool to monitor traffic breaches, especially speeding, by drivers.