Perils of life in the city
Editorial-Guyana Chronicle February 16th 2006
A BARRIER has been thrown up on a section of the wooden bridge leading to the southern end of Le Repentir Cemetery in Georgetown, warning drivers and cyclists and pedestrians about a gaping hole there.
And we understand that repairs are to be done shortly.
The pity is that this was done only after a young life was snuffed out because of the hole on the bridge.
Mark Anthony Montouth, 26, a husband and father, was killed on the bridge when the front wheel of his motorcycle struck the hole, causing him to lose control of the machine. He fell and struck his head on a concrete post, was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, and was pronounced dead on arrival.
The bridge is a patchwork, a makeshift contraption of which any construction worker should be thoroughly ashamed. It is really a death trap.
We feel that the Georgetown Mayor and City Council must take responsibility for the young man’s death. A bridge as hazardous as the one on which Montouth died should be marked by a barrier against the broken section, with a warning sign thrown up and a warning light at night.
Our city fathers never bothered about this. They become even more culpable when we consider that many accidents have occurred at the same spot on the bridge, and nearby residents have complained again and again about this hazard.
Traffic through the cemetery is heavy. Commuters moving between the northern end of the city and the heavily populated areas in Ruimveldt and Tucville and other communities at the southern end of the city must cross the bridges at both ends of the cemetery.
For one of the bridges to be as unsafe as the one of which Montouth was killed amounts to gross negligence on the part of the City Council.
Residents in the area were justly outraged at the fatality. They often said that only when someone dies on the bridge will the council fix it. And so said, so done.
Montouth’s wife is now a widow, and her children are orphans. The family has lost its breadwinner. The City Council must take the blame fully on its shoulders.
The defect on the bridge did not spring up overnight. It was there for a long time. The council knew about it.
In other parts of the world, if a similar situation arose, the City Council would have had to pay considerable compensation to the family of the deceased.
And there are other aspects of city life that put citizens at risk because of deficiencies in the infrastructure.
Traffic lights are sorely needed at intersections in Georgetown. When driving at night, the Mandela Avenue-D’Urban Street intersection is a nightmare. This junction just cries out for traffic lights to put an end to the chaos there.
Similar chaos is experienced at Mandela Avenue and Homestretch Avenue, and Mandela Avenue and Norton Street intersections.
The Police Traffic Department must sit up and take notice. For too long we have been hearing about avenues being explored to get traffic lights that work. At times traffic lights which had not been operational for ages would suddenly spring to life, only to go out again after a week or two.
The heavy vehicular traffic in our city makes traffic lights a must. It is high time we have traffic lights that work.
As for night driving along Mandela Avenue between Homestretch Avenue and the Lamaha Canal, this is another nightmare.
There are no street lights here, and only the dimly illuminated Chinese Embassy close to the southern end of this stretch allows the motorist to realize that he is not driving in some rural area.
Not many nights ago, criminals attempted to hijack a car along this stretch of roadway, but the driver managed to escape.
Are we going to wait until a murder is committed here before we look at installing street lights?
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