ON Tuesday, December 1, 2020, this newspaper reported on a news item headlined, “Father of three dies in Corentyne accident,” in which it relates that “Police are investigating the death of 26-year-old Ganesh Ramlakhan, a father of three, who was struck off his bicycle by a van on the Bramfield Pubic Road, East Coast Berbice, on Sunday evening.”
Ramlakhan, who resided at Number 11 village, fell off his bicycle and received injuries to his body. He was taken to the New Amsterdam Hospital, and later transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he succumbed around 01:00hrs on Monday. His mother, Latchmie Armogan, was in tears when this newspaper spoke with her. She said her son had internal bleeding, and suffered severe injuries to his left side.

The article continued, “Meanwhile, the wife of Ramlakhan, Hemwattie Balkarran, 29, said her husband was the sole breadwinner for the family; she is now uncertain where their next meal will come from. Ramlakhan was a sluice operator, and at the time of the accident, he was on his way to work. He leaves to mourn his wife and children, aged seven, four and one.”
The news report also informed readers that this is the second time tragedy has struck the family in recent years, recalling that in March 2016, Armogan and her 16-year-old son, Joshua Ramakhan, were struck down by a speeding car at Palmyra Village, while they were making their way home. The impact flung both mother and son into a nearby canal, and resulted in the death of the teenager several months later.

An earlier news report headlined, “Road Safety Education Enforcement Awareness Campaign”, disclosed that the Ministry of Home Affairs had officially launched its Road Safety Education Enforcement Awareness campaign.

The report informed readers that Minister of Home Affairs Robeson Benn, and Minister of Public Works, Bishop Juan Edghill initiated the campaign by participating in road block and education exercises on Vlissengen Road and along the East Bank Public Road.

During that exercise, Minister Edghill urged drivers to observe the road rules, including the ‘Five Cs’.
The report related that traffic police and representatives of the Guyana National Road Safety Council (GNRSC) also participated in the exercise.
In December of 2019, Police launched a major, aggressive road safety operation as part of its efforts to reduce traffic accidents. The traffic plans were finalised for 2020.
Code-named “Safe Road”, the operation was programmed to be conducted in all 10 administrative regions.
Operation “Safe Road” commenced from 06:00hrs on Sunday, December 15, 2019 across the 10 administrative regions.
The reckless and irresponsible use of Guyana’s roadways indicates that motorists are not heeding or practising the Guyana Police Force’s code of behaviour: Care, Caution, Consideration, Commonsense and Courtesy.

At an earlier press conference, Works Minister Edghill had outlined Government’s plans to create further safety measures for road users, including, but not limited to, more lighting, pedestrian walkways, and bike lanes that will be incorporated with roadworks.

He said that the foregoing is part of the Government’s urban improvement strategy.
In conclusion, Minister Edghill said, “The Government sees this as an important venture, as there has been a 17 per cent increase in pedestrian deaths in 2020, as was seen for the same period in 2019. Albeit we are currently being faced with a Global Pandemic, the Guyana Police Force has recorded an alarming five-odd per cent increase in fatalities for this year in comparison to last year. This is of serious concern to our Government, and we intend to leave no stone unturned as we seek to identify methods that can be implemented to make our country’s roadways safe.”

However, it is the human quotient in responsible road use that is the requisite factor for any road safety measure to succeed. Despite many road safety programmes devised by successive police commissioners over preceding years, the reckless and injudicious human factor prevails, and the carnage continues.