Guyanese drivers have been acculturated to blow their horns

Dear Editor,
It is an established fact that Guyanese motorists sound their vehicles horn much more than those in neighbouring countries. In places like Suriname and Trinidad one would travel in a vehicle for hours without hearing the sound of a vehicle horn, even in a traffic jam.

In our case though, we need to understand how our drivers have been acculturated. For example, take the Stabroek Square: a vehicle coming out of the stelling area and seeking to go east along Brickdam would be stuck for several minutes at the junction with Water Street because the 42 and 32 route minibuses block the road collecting passengers. The driver of the vehicle will blow and blow his horn to get clearance to pass, and the operators of the buses will pay no mind to the blower until their buses are full or if a traffic policeman passes around – and even then it depends on who the policeman is.

At the Croal Street side it is the same thing with the route 45 buses, and there it is even worse because the vendors in that area only give the vehicles a narrow track for one vehicle to squeeze through going west to turn north.

Then we have the East Bank Demerara road to deal with. When vehicle drivers approach the lumber yards the draycarts are forever partly blocking the road and forcing the vehicles to blow their horns. In this case the lorries have foghorns which are ear-piercing and nerve- shattering.

Yes, Editor, Guyanese drivers love to blow their horns, but that is how they have been acculturated over the past three decades.

Yours faithfully,
W P George