The British High Commission yesterday made a donation of 50 radar guns to the Police Traffic Department, as the campaign started late last year as a response to the road carnage continues.
Speaking at the handing-over ceremony held at the Houston Bypass junction yesterday, Deputy British High Commissioner Malcolm Kirk noted that in 2007, there was a significant increase in accidents and that speed was an issue in them.
“The 50 radar guns will enable the police to cover the whole country and bring down speed,” Kirk said.
He said that the contribution was part of the assistance that the British is giving to Guyana in enhancing security.
Acting Commissioner of Police Henry Greene thanked the Deputy High Commissioner for the intervention and said that it will go a far way in preventing fatalities. He, too, noted that speeding was the number one contributor to road deaths and said that accidents have an enormous cost in terms of lives, the economy and families.
According to How Stuff Works.com, a laser speed gun shoots a very short burst of infrared laser light and then waits for it to reflect off the vehicle. The gun, the website said, counts the number of nanoseconds it takes for the round trip, and by dividing by two it can calculate the distance to the car and therefore the speed at which it is travelling.
