With just over three weeks remaining for 2019, the Traffic Department of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) has already recorded 115 road deaths throughout the country, a figure that surpasses the total number of road fatalities for the entire 2018.
Traffic Chief, Superintendent Linden Isles told Guyana Times International last Saturday that for last year, there were 92 deaths recorded from a total of 79 accidents while in 2019 to date, 98 accidents claimed the lives of 115 persons.
On December 3, 18-year-old cyclist Deshon Morris lost his life while his pillion rider was injured after the motorcycle they were riding collided with a truck at Industrial Estate, Ruimveldt, Greater Georgetown.
Morris, of Lot 4 East La Penitence, Georgetown, was pronounced dead on the spot while Keon Granville, 27, of Phase 2 Lot 1 East Ruimveldt, was treated for minor injuries.
On Sunday, December 1, a pedestrian identified as 39-year-old Romel Carter of D Field South Sophia, Greater Georgetown, was killed after being hit by a truck that was allegedly speeding along the Leonora Public Road, West Coast Demerara (WCD).
Meanwhile, in the month of November, 15 accidents resulted in the deaths of 21 persons inclusive of three children. In total for this year to date, nine children were killed in fatal accidents.
In the last week of November, 12 persons lost their lives on the roadways.
Policeman, banker
Just after midnight on Sunday, November 24, 29-year-old Police Officer Carl Roach died after his Ducati motorcycle collided with a car at the corner of Brickdam and Chalmers Place, Georgetown. The impact is said to have killed him instantly.
The second fatal accident took place hours later, at about 05:00h, at Felicity on the East Coast Demerara (ECD) Public Road. Republic Bank employee 31-year-old David Matthew Headly was killed after his car allegedly slammed into a bridge. Reports are that Headly was driving his car, PRR 253, at a fast rate when the accident took place. He is said to have died on the spot.
Hit-and-run
On Monday, November 25, 52-year-old Essequibo labourer Raymond Cassal had his life snuffed out when he was hit by a vehicle that quickly sped away from the accident scene.
Residents later discovered his body lying on the roadway with several visible injuries. He was taken to the nearest hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Child, cop & businessman
On Tuesday, November 26, in Bush Lot, West Coast Berbice, a seven-year-old child lost his life while in the company of his mother and sibling who had collected him from school.
Nifran Nazamadeen, along with his mother and eight-year-old sister, was standing on the parapet when a speeding car slammed into them, killing the young boy instantly.
Meanwhile, at about 19:30h on Tuesday, Senior Superintendent of Police Brian Eastman and his high school friend businessman Dillon DeRamos, who owns the Kosmos Restaurant & Bar, were killed in a horrific smash-up at Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown. The SUV that the men were travelling in slammed into a concrete fence and was wrecked beyond repair.
5 dead, 18 injured
Early Saturday morning, on November 30, another Republic Bank employee, 25-year-old Riley Charles Newton, died after allegedly falling asleep at the wheel of his car while travelling to Parika, East Bank Essequibo (EBE) to drop a friend home.
The father of a one-month baby, who hailed from Windsor Forest village, WCD, died at about 05:00h in the vicinity of the Leonora Police Station after he lost control of his vehicle (PRR 1703)and it ended up turning turtle.
There were two other occupants inside of Newton’s car at the time of the accident.
The trio had been imbibing in Georgetown and was heading to Parika, East Bank Essequibo when the accident occurred.
Public-spirited persons managed to pull the three men out of the badly-damaged vehicle and rush them to the Leonora Cottage Hospital but Newton was pronounced dead on arrival, while his two friends, who had sustained injuries, were treated at that health facility.
Meanwhile, on Saturday last at about 19:20h, minibus BYY 2981 slammed into motor car PTT 691, killing four persons and leaving 16 others injured.
Dead are 52-year-old Rawle Williams, 29-year-old Ayesha Sealey, 22-year-old Zavira Jona and 12-year-old Maria Bisnauth.
Williams, of Canal Number One, West Bank Demerara (WBD), had been the driver of the car. Sealey had lived at Patentia Housing Scheme, WBD, while Jona had been from Patentia village, WBD, and Bisnauth had resided at Lot 125 Sideline Dam, Sisters Village, WBD.
The accident occurred on the Nismes Public Road, WBD. According to Police, the accident resulted when the front right side of the minibus collided with the front right-side door of the motor car, causing both vehicles to spin off the road and end up on the grass parapet before plunging into a trench.
