EACH year, the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims forces us to confront a truth we too often ignore: behind every road fatality is a family permanently altered, a future stolen and a community left to grieve.
This year, as Guyana marks the solemn observance under the theme, “Careful Driving Saves Lives,” the message delivered by Home Affairs Minister Oneidge Walrond could not be more urgent: Guyana must undergo a fundamental shift in how its citizens think about and use the roadways.
Her call for a cultural and behavioural transformation is not mere rhetoric. Guyana has recorded 130 road fatalities so far in 2025, a sharp and troubling rise from the 97 lives lost in 2024.
These are not numbers to debate, analyse, or normalise; they represent lives cut short by recklessness, negligence, and in many cases, preventable decisions.
Minister Walrond is correct: “One death is too many.” But acknowledging this truth is only the beginning.
The public must recognise that the government and the Guyana Police Force (GPF), despite heavy criticism, have prevented even more devastating outcomes.
Enforcement, improved infrastructure and expanded safety education have slowed what could have been an even steeper escalation in fatalities.
Yet, the persistence of dangerous driving habits, speeding, drunk driving, unlicensed operation, and general road indiscipline, shows that policy alone cannot overcome a societal problem.
The minister outlined several ongoing and upcoming measures: improved lighting, clearer road markings, safer pedestrian crossings, and the procurement of 1,000 new street lights.
Smart technology is increasingly being used to monitor and deter reckless behaviour. Discussions to update the Road Traffic Act are advancing, with proposals for stiffer penalties and easier licence suspensions long overdue in a country where too many motorists treat the nation’s roads as racetracks.
These steps should be welcomed, but they must be matched by public accountability.
As Traffic Chief Assistant Commissioner Mahendra Singh rightly noted, enforcement and education are two sides of the same coin.
The GPF’s work in schools and partnerships with Road Safety Councils, the business community, and civil society reflect a multi-layered approach, one grounded not in punishment, but prevention.
Yet even the most sophisticated systems cannot save lives if road users refuse to change their attitudes.
No one understands this more painfully than road-safety advocate Lucio Bacchus, who lost two children to a drunk driver. Her plea, “Drivers, look out for our loved ones… Don’t drink and drive,” should haunt every motorist who believes arriving a few minutes late is worse than risking someone else’s life.
Her grief is a reminder that road safety is not an abstract policy challenge; it is an issue of humanity.
Traffic Chief Singh’s remarks at the launch of the Christmas Policing Plan underscore how far the GPF has come.
A 12 per cent reduction in road accidents this year is not an accident of luck, but the result of leadership, technology, trained personnel and data-driven deployment.
The Safe Road Intelligence System (SRIS), 24-hour CCTV monitoring, and expanded command centres are modern tools being deployed in response to modern challenges.
But the country is changing fast. Housing expansion, commercial growth, and a surge in vehicle imports continue to overwhelm arteries such as the East Bank and East Coast corridors.
Singh was blunt in his admonition: motorists must plan better. Poor planning, impatience, and entitlement fuel avoidable collisions.
As the holiday season approaches, the GPF is expanding fixed-point placements, roving patrols, and sector-based operations across all 10 regions.
These efforts are necessary, but they cannot compensate for a lack of personal responsibility.
“Personal responsibility is not transferable,” Singh reminded the public. And he is right. Road safety cannot be outsourced to the police or the government. It begins with every driver who refuses to speed, every rider who wears a helmet, every pedestrian who crosses responsibly and every citizen who chooses not to drink and drive.
The painful increase in road deaths this year must not become another statistic we acknowledge today and ignore tomorrow.
If Guyana is to reverse this trend, the country must embrace a new culture of accountability, one where safety is seen not as an inconvenience, but as a shared national duty. Lives depend on it.