Reflectors on the West Coast Berbice road have been broken up by heavy trucks

Dear Editor,

I live in West Coast Berbice, and I wrote about the area where I live some years ago when the government built a road with the yellow line in the middle and reflectors, and white lines on both sides with reflectors. This showed up the walkway on both sides for pedestrians; what a beautiful sight when you were driving in the night.

Today, with heavy trucks driving on the road all these reflectors have been broken up, and in some places there is no yellow line in the middle or white lines on both sides of the road – the road is one. These lines serve as a guide to drivers of vehicles, and since drivers pay a road licence, they should be fully protected and know when they are on the right side of the law in cases where there is accident. With speeding vehicles, drivers have no respect for the road since there is no lane.

Look at the pedestrian crossing at Bush Lot Village, West Coast Berbice? The white paint can be hardly seen, and instead of walking on the crossing, hundreds of schoolchildren run across the road to catch mini-buses to go home amid speeding vehicles. This will end up in a serious accident some day; it needs a police presence every afternoon at this junction.

The government also has to do something about unbranded cows and horses on the public road. In places like Pln Brahan where there is a dangerous turn and the Fort Wellington public road where there is a police station, dozens of cows can be seen on the road. The Minister of Home Affairs should get the police from Fort Wellington and Weldaad police station to impound these animals, or else get rangers from the MMA ADA to do it. The same animals that roam on the road day and night are the same ones destroying farmers’ crops in the MMA project where farmers have to pay drainage and irrigation charges.

Yours faithfully,
Rudolph Singh