LAWLESSNESS proliferates on Guyana’s highways, where drivers who break speed limits, speak on cellphones while driving, drink and drive, overload their vehicles, play loud music continue to do so with impunity.
This newspaper is aware of the frustration of honest police ranks who capture perpetrators at great risk to themselves, only to see them set free by the courts on one flimsy pretext or another. The public has, time and again, expressed frustration and disgust over the seemingly endless carnage on the roadways and indicated a willingness to support every initiative the Guyana Police Force (GPF) undertakes to restore law and order in the land.

The carnage on the road must stop.  Too many innocent lives are being lost.  Too many families have been devastated by the wanton and unnecessary loss of the life of a loved one at the hands of a killer behind the wheels of a vehicle.  Too many have been maimed or incapacitated in one way or another by those who use our roadways like their own private playground.
They do not stop speeding, nor driving under the influence of alcohol.  They violate the traffic laws with impunity, because they can pay a high-priced, unethical lawyer and get off and consequently get a rap on the knuckles in the court because of some clever rhetorical gimmickry by their legal representatives.

Speeding to overtake another bus to get a $100 fare is a norm, so the lives of a busload of passengers are only worth $100 in their estimation.

One minibus driver, who had been laughing as he raced a friend in a car on one of the country’s highways, was stopped by the police and issued a ticket, after he had been shown the mileage on the speedgun when he attempted to argue.
When he returned to his bus he said that there is a need for some more killings in the country so that things could get “better.”  One could only surmise that by “better” he means where anarchy prevails and there is no rule of law enforced.  In other words, back to the law of the jungle.

But we are supposed to be humans living in a civilised society, not a jungle where predatory beasts ravage the vulnerable.  Our laws were formulated to create order in the societal construct with the intention of protecting the citizens of the land.
The GPF devised many initiatives in attempts to discourage lawlessness and carelessness on the roads over the years, to no avail. Former Police Commissioner, late Laurie Lewis, created the Police Impact and Tracor, with minimal impact on road users because the tragic loss of lives never ceased.

“Mothers in Black” evolved from a mother’s pain at losing a cherished child, and the organisation has had tremendous success in bringing road safety issues to the front-burner in the legislative processes; but enacting laws is only one step.  Enforcement of those laws has to be a correlative factor for effective solutions so that the precious human resources of this country could be safe to live productive lives and pursue goals that could contribute to nation-building initiatives.
The system needs to give the relatives of victims justice so that they can have some level of closure.  With all the laws that are being flouted, with all the warnings, drivers continue to violate the laws without caring a whit that they are responsible for the lives they are endangering with their irresponsible behaviour.

It is incumbent upon adults to recognise that Guyana’s highways have become killing fields and ensure children under their care are not left unattended on roadways. Some irresponsible caregivers claim busyness and send children on errands in heavy traffic. Rather than forfeiting a few minutes of their time they risk forfeiting a child’s life instead; and in instances where a child’s life is lost through a preventable accident the driver should be prosecuted for vehicular homicide, and the adult caregiver should also be charged, because both are culpable for the loss of that child’s life. Instead perpetrators are allowed bail and shortly after they can be seen freely roaming the streets.

The callousness of some members of law enforcement, who ignore the suffering of the victims of the lawbreakers in the land because of misconceptions and wrong perceptions of variables in society’s situational dynamics need to be addressed if the trust of the public in the caretakers of the law is to be re-established.