Dear Editor,
On the East Bank dual carriageway beginning from the Harbour Bridge there are about ten to eleven pedestrian crossings up to the Vieira turn, most of which were added within the last few months. Of these only one is controlled by traffic lights, viz the Eccles entrance/exit. The others except two for schools are not properly indicated, except for the usual painted stripes on the road, unlike the schools which have signs stating ‘School Crossing.’
So what? one may ask. Just let me share a few near misses.
The crossing before the Harbour Bridge seems the most dangerous, because when the traffic (inner lane) going north stops to allow the pedestrians to cross, the right lane heading in the same direction not being alert has to come to a braking halt to avert a serious accident. Only this morning my wife had to use a hand signal to alert the cars in the outer lane to stop. And this is the same for all the other crossings except the schools, one of which has a traffic warden.
However at the school crossings the children are sometimes left in the middle waiting to cross over to the opposite lane.
The East Bank dual carriageway is not a highway, and one has to cater for the pedestrians who live along both sides of the road. Motorists, cyclists and of course pedestrians must use the road with caution. Guyana may be the only country where pedestrians using the crossings have to run like Usain Bolt, as there is hardly any tolerance for each other.
Let’s have overhead warning signs at reasonable distances with luminous paint, especially at night time, so we are all alerted.
Yours faithfully,
V O Patrick
