Dear Editor,
The terribly tragic death of Mark McCoy, 14, killed as he was crossing the road near Diamond shows exactly how dangerous our roads are today. This accident seems to have been the product of someone trying to do the boy a good turn by stopping. The bus which hit him didn’t.
Numerous times around GT, I am driving and see children or adults waiting to cross the road. It would be so nice to stop and let them cross, but I am only one in a line of traffic, all boring and racing and over- and undertaking. If I stop, and the pedestrian walks out, there is a great chance they will be hit by another vehicle overtaking me.
Vehicles stop. They stop to gaff with friends, they stop to answer their phones, they stop for no reason at all, and everyone knows that and when they see a vehicle stopped, they just overtake them. What’s he stupidy stopped for? He mad or what? Well, I gaan! There is never, ever, any thought that the stopped vehicle might just have stopped to help someone across the road. No. Never.
So, drivers, please never stop to let people cross the road! It might sound selfish, but it is for sure the safest way. Because if you stop, sure as Stabroek clock is always wrong, someone will bore past you.
And, for the pedestrians, please, always wait when you cross the road. If someone stops for you, be aware that others will not, and creep out, peep and make sure you are safe before you carry on.
It is sad, it is wild, it is a terrible criticism of the way we live today in Guyana, but please, don’t stop, don’t do people favours, it’s deadly help you’re giving them.
Yours faithfully,
Peter Bouchard
