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Time for action

Guyana Electrical Consultants and Associates-April 9th 2006

It is no secret that the management of our roadways presents a major challenge to the Traffic Department of the Guyana Police Force on a daily basis. This is compounded by the fact that there is a short supply of traffic management infrastructure to deal with the rising vehicle population. The infrastructure we are referring to here are active systems such as traffic lights and passive systems such as road signs and markings.

This has given rise to a generation of drivers, many of whom have not been exposed to the rudiments of driving on well managed thoroughfares thus contribution to them becoming indiscipline over time. Factors such as the one highlighted above have paved the way for the high road fatality rates that Guyana continues to experience.

A Ministry of Works study conducted four years ago (2002) found that seventy-two percent (72%) of all road accidents are as a result of speeding and negligence of some sort.

Just two years ago(2004), the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) released figures on Guyana showing that there is an average of two thousand eight hundred and seventy-two (2872) road accidents yearly resulting in one hundred and forty-six (146) deaths. The findings also revealed that Guyana is ranked fifth in Latin, Central America and the Caribbean in road fatality rates. The economic cost of which translates to a whooping eighteen million dollars (US $18) per annum in property damage and medical expenses. When compared to 2004 budgetary allocations, the cost of road accidents was 514% of that allotted to refurbish Roads (US$3.5M). With these figures, it should not be surprising that traffic accidents are cited as the major contributor to ill health and underdevelopment in Guyana.

Even before these figures were made public, we at the Guyana Electrical Consultants and Associates had taken note of the situation with the hope of correcting it. In this regard, we have done our utmost with our resources to install a traffic light in the city.

This maybe was the turning point for our company since in some quarters it was said that we weren’t able to handle a job of that nature. As a matter of fact, some of the major players in corporate Guyana were approached for funding in this regard. None thus so far has found it fitting to respond positively. We will nonetheless kept focus on the job ahead since according to one study traffic light installation is a sound economic investment when the benefits are taken into consideration.

Thus far, we have conceptualised a design for a networked traffic-light system for the City of Georgetown as well as standalone installations for certain intersections countrywide. We therefore await a response from the authority on the way forward for the remainder of installations.

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