THERE has been another vehicular homicide in which drink-driving is the root cause. These, I’m afraid, seem to be regular occurrences where someone without a care in the world gets drunk, then if that is not enough, gets behind the wheel of a car and at break-neck speed traverses the roadway.
Innocent lives are snuffed out by such recklessness with no end in sight. For this fact there is the call for stiffer,

harsher penalties to be administered by the courts for drink-driving which I am totally in agreement with because what obtains at the present moment seems to be an incentive to drive drunk.
I say an incentive when you take a look at the “keep drinken” sign splashed on the side of the vehicle in the latest road fatality at Nabaclis. This driver was brazen enough to sport his sign. Others however, are not so brave but do the very same thing nonetheless.  Thus it is drink, drive and kill anyone, and there is nothing to worry about. That’s the culture of lawlessness that has enveloped Guyana.

Then it worries me greatly that life is a cheap commodity when you consider the whole scenario behind drink-driving. The frequency of such deadly rampages is stark testimony that no one seems to care.
A sick and sad feeling hits you right there in the stomach when you see these fatalities and nothing, if any, is done to the perpetrators of such crimes. The situation gets even more distressing when you look at the many options available to the guilty party to walk free – especially if he is rich. The defence strategies are endless; which tells me one of these days defence arguments might very well read: “there was blinding snow which caused the accident.” As ridiculous as it sounds, this will surface giving the way excuses are made.
A case in point is the vehicular homicide involving the drunken teenager Ramsiawan at Mon Repos. In that matter there was a so-called “eyewitness” with a bogus testimony of  mistaken identity and colour of clothing was called into play adding up to the wrong person being charged. What nonsense! The fact that the vehicle; note my words “the vehicle” as if a vehicle drives by itself, caused the deadly accident that is enough evidence to lay charges – to add a drink-driver behind the wheel. What does colour of clothing have to do with anything? But it goes to show to what lengths people are prepared to go where accidents involving rich people are concerned. Where money is involved, persons are prepared to lie with a bold face. And since when deadly homicide cases are tried by public opinion?
Even the police cannot be trusted because the long, inordinate delays in these cases when the officer on the scene cannot be located because he was “paid” to stay quiet or him becoming a victim of amnesia when figures are altered and testimony is bungled. All of these are real-case scenarios and not a figment of my imagination.
I have seen too many cases go a-begging because of the factors outlined above. The end result is the guilty party walks scot free and the victim/s relatives are left at a loss as to why such an airtight case was dismissed. I implore the editor not to leave out this section of my letter because it is germane to the issue of why countless cases of drink-driving  are dismissed. It is high time for us to wipe out the scourge of people driving while intoxicated and killing people on our roads. When persons are rightly prosecuted and  justly punished, then and only then will we be getting somewhere in solving this problem. It would be a strong deterrent made out to other road users who are contemplating such acts. At the present moment it is just a wrap on the knuckles and nothing else. In this regard, punishment such as jail time for the guilty, a ban for life from driving as well as hefty compensation for the surviving relatives should be administered. When persons have to sell their vehicles to compensate for the deaths they’ve caused; when it hits hardest in the pocket, then and only then would folks be forced to think right, such as hiring a taxi to take them home when inebriated or calling for a sober individual to drive them home. The watchword would then be: “if you are driving do not drink, don’t drink and drive.”  
It would be remiss of me not to mention that the victims’ relatives in these latest vehicular homicide cases should engage the courts with legal counsel of their own to ensure a positive outcome in these matters. Leaving everything up to the “vulnerable police” would be another exercise in futility.
Counsel’s scrutinising eyes would ensure that all the issues are dealt with and not the superficial bungling that presently obtains. I grieve with the families who have lost loved ones.