– Mothers in Black founder urges

By Naomi Parris

WITH recent statistics showing a 37 per cent increase in road accidents for the year 2020, founder of the Alicea Foundation (Mothers in Black), Denise Dias, ushered in Road Safety Week 2020, making calls for road users to be responsible while driving.

“I wish our drivers and pedestrians alike would adhere to road-safety precautions and respect laws of the road in our efforts to save lives. I am here on behalf of the thousands of victims of traffic crashes,” Dias said at the opening ceremony of the week’s activities on Monday.

Fuelled by the sudden death of her 17-year-old daughter in August 1996, Dias established the Alicea Foundation, also known as Mother’s in Black.
“My eldest daughter Alisa’s life was irreversibly cut short by an alleged speeding drunk-driver when she was only seventeen years old. I always thought, like many of you, that these road tragedies happen to other people; however, on the 23rd of August 1996, I became that someone else; my life changed forever,” she said.

With other grieving mothers and concerned citizens, Dias organised a weekly one-hour vigil outside Public Building until road safety legislation was passed for the use of helmets, seat belts, breathalyzers and radar guns.

“For four years we stood silently together, one hour for each week, rain or shine, with placards and photographs of our loved ones, asking our parliamentarians to implement these laws.”
Dias added that while these laws are in place, it is disappointing to still see so many lives lost on the roadways.

“Though traffic laws are in place, regrettably the rules on our roads are ignored. In the midst of this world wide epidemic this year, road crashes have escalated. Drinking and or drunk driving, overtaking, undertaking, overloading and speed in a crazed abandon,” she said, are the causes of some of the horrific accidents seen occurring on the road ways.
She stated that for Guyana to see a decrease in road accidents and fatalities, road users must first change their attitude and follow the rules and be considerate of others, especially pedestrians, when driving.

“Like COVID, it is a deadly serious matter to be blunt. I would rather be spending time with Alicea, probably having dinner tonight and playing with her children. I am trying to ensure that others don’t face the same tragedy,” she said, adding: “Mothers in Black, no matter our circumstances or how different we are, we understand the agony of enduring a death of a loved one– our child. It is a pain we share and it is a pain we will suffer for a lifetime.”