By Francis Quamina Farrier

OVER 10,000 Guyanese have lost their lives on the roads of Guyana since Independence in 1966. This figure is in a country with less than a million in population and minibuses have made a significant contribution to that staggering total. Those killed include a minister of government, a police commissioner, two teenage daughters of a prime minister, two boxing champions, a chief librarian and a foreign diplomat. Yet the MADNESS on Guyana’s roads continues unchecked. Early this year, a vehicle in which the current Police Commissioner Leslie James was a passenger, was struck by another vehicle. Fortunately, the Commissioner was not injured. Will the lawlessness on Guyana’s roads continue in 2020 and beyond? Will you be killed in a traffic crash? Will I be killed? On four occasions during this year, I was almost run over while using a pedestrian crossing in the city of Georgetown. I have witnessed on many occasions mini buses actually driving on pavements to over-take other vehicles. The madness goes on unchecked. Who do citizens turn to for “The Good Life” on our roads? It will be recalled that even a former Police Traffic Chief drove his vehicle while drunk and crashed into three parked vehicles. It would also be recalled the incident in which an elderly passenger in a minibus was so roughed-up by the conductor that the poor man shortly after, collapsed and died. The madness on our roads and hooligan type behaviour of many minibus drivers and conductors which is causing lives, has even caused President David Granger to make a public statement a few weeks ago. But who will bell the cat? Rather, who will do something to bring this madness on Guyana’s roads to a permanent end? Where does the buck stop?

?When I wrote an article about road hogs and road fatalities in April 2019, the number of Traffic Fatalities at that time was 52. At the time of writing this article, that figure rose to 128. That includes the precious lives of nine children. Quite a number of those killed were due to the reckless minibus operations. “I am fed-up and totally devastated by the laissez-faire disposition of commuters as they sit in speeding minibuses, most of them riddled with lewd obscene noises they call music while refusing to voice their concerns,” stated the retired boxing champion Mike Benjamin in a Facebook post recently. “My experience has been anything but delectable as these hooligans that call themselves drivers gamble with their lives and those with many innocent commuters,” Mike Benjamin wrote. Minibus operators, especially in Georgetown, are so out of control that they actually become engaged in fistfights with each other, and a few occasions with law officers. Another Facebook contributor recommended that commuters use their cell phones and take photographs of offending minibuses and post them on Facebook. So while these minibus operators behave as though they are above the law and can do whatever they want to their paying passengers, a growing number of commuters have declared WAR on the lawlessness. This confounded nonsense must stop. People’s LIVES Matter. The law enforcers must do their job for which they receive a salary from taxpayer contributions.

Former Police Commissioner David Ramnarine once called on minibus passengers not to allow themselves to be terrorised by the minibus operators. In translation, the Commissioner was saying that some minibus operators are terrorists. The sad aspect of that is that those minibus terrorists are unrepentant. It seems that all that matters to them is the money from the ‘kidnapping’ of another passenger and potential road fatality victim. While for decades many minibus passengers have sat like zombies in those minibuses and accepted the terrorist actions of the operators, that is now changing slowly.

More passengers are speaking up. The terrorists behind the wheel will find it more and more difficult to get away with their reckless deadly operations. As the serious end to this national problem, my understanding is that some religious leaders are considering the holding of an Interfaith Service at the Stabroek Market Square in Georgetown during Road Safety Week 2020, in commemoration to the more than 10,000 road fatality victims since Guyana became Independent and pray for the madness on our roads to come to an end. Religious leaders have held funeral services for so many road fatality victims. Will they come together and let their voices be heard in condemnation of this road rage madness? They have the power and responsibility to speak up and help make a difference. More than ever, they need to use their power to bring sanity on the roads of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana and end the traffic terrorism. There are those Road Safety Councils who are doing a fairly good job in the face of the continuing slaughter on our roads, helping to keep the death figures from being even higher.

But in all the madness and heartaches, there are some great minibus operators. The Bell Twin Brothers, for example, are among the very best in the country. There was that Route 42 minibus driver who took three very brief phone calls while on a journey from Georgetown to Timehri – with every call, he pulled over and stopped, apologised to the passengers, and kept the call no longer than30seconds. He apologised to the passengers again and then moved on. As we come to the end of the second decade of the 21st century, let us as a Nation vow to be more orderly on our roads. Let us in 2020 and beyond make our roads much safer. It is apt for me to repeat that I have been travelling in minibuses over the years, all over Guyana and the CARICOM countries including the Cayman Islands, as well as in Ghana. So let us keep death off our roads. And let us enjoy the promised Good Life which eludes us as passengers in mini buses. Happy New Year. HAPPY new decade. Happy Good Life. Keep death off the road.