Dear Editor,
I read with great dismay that a child has died as a result of carelessness on our roads. How many more people have to die before the residents of this country understand the consequences of not following proper safety procedures? Any given day I see parents and children as young as two years old riding on motorcycles. Many of the younger children are unable to hold on tightly to the parent. Every time I see it I see an accident waiting to happen.
I see it at sea. Not long ago I took a cargo boat from Georgetown to the Pomeroon River for some adventure. It was very adventuresome. I thought I was going to die. The trip wasn’t for the faint-hearted or weak. Even though I can swim, I can’t swim in the Atlantic Ocean so far away from the coast. Editor, the men on the boat must have seen that the boat was too small for the Atlantic. I saw the captain wrestle against the wind, rain, waves and inclement weather all night long. To make matters worse, there was no one to help him because no one was experienced enough to steer the boat. I wonder what would have happened if the captain had got sick while out at sea; the boat may have sunk.
After the first trip on the Atlantic on the small boat, I decided to take another adventure on the Atlantic, but this time, I took the Transport and Harbours boat. It was much bigger and it carried a lot of passengers. I figured that this boat could handle the Atlantic because of its size. I was somewhat wrong.
Although the government boat did much better than the small boat, the ride was still somewhat frightening and challenging. I wasn’t as fearful as before, but some people would find it dangerous and scary. What concerns me most about the boat was that not a single safety briefing was given in case of an emergency, even though there were many children on board.
Yours faithfully,
Anthony Pantlitz
