The police say they are seeing a reduction in collisions from the use of sleeping policemen and more were recently installed on minor roads within the vicinity of D’Urban and Hadfield streets, close to Mandela Avenue, in Lodge.
Acting Traffic Chief Ramesh Ashram disclosed last week that the Guyana Police Force has collaborated with the Ministry of Public Infrastructure to identify areas where they have noticed wanton speeding by drivers.
The acting traffic chief further explained that signage was not being respected by drivers.
“We have noticed that people don’t pay attention to signs. A lot of times people see signs saying ‘Stop’ or ‘Go slow’ but they don’t observe these signs,” Ashram explained, while pointing out that a decision was taken to install the speed humps on minor roads.
City Engineer Colvern Venture recently told Stabroek News that the speed humps are necessary since minibus drivers on route 41 (South Ruimveldt to Stabroek) and route 46 (Lodge to Stabroek) would often speed through these auxiliary roads.
“We have seen these minibus drivers speeding down the road without any regard for the pedestrians or cyclists. Also you see them trying to cut through the minor roads to bypass the stop lights,” he explained.
Venture noted that while he understands that the speed humps have been put in place to create safer roads, the Mayor and City Council were never consulted on the placement of the humps. The roads on which the speed humps were placed are municipal roads, he noted.
Recently, drivers have raised concerns on the number of speed humps being placed within short distances of corners.
One driver pointed out that in his view some speed humps are too close to the traffic lights and called for their placement to be rectified.
“Driving on D’Urban Street is a hassle because when you are approaching Mandela Avenue there is a speed bump there and a traffic light. By the time you slow down and go over the speed bump the light changes and you have to wait again, I think they should look at this,” the driver commented.
Responding to this claim, the acting traffic chief said that it was now being brought to his attention and he would seek to address it.
However, he went on to say that they have noticed a reduction in vehicular collisions, at intersections which were prone to accidents, since the sleeping policemen have been installed.
A year ago Stabroek News had reported that the Ministry of Public Infrastructure had installed 33 speed humps on various streets in the city. The speed humps were installed for “safety reasons” and the contract had been awarded to Sim Inc.
Last year the humps were observed on a few streets in Campbellville, Bel Air Park and a few other residential areas. Also on Waterloo Street close to Quamina Street, and in more recent times, close to the four-corner-intersection at Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, North Road, New Garden Street and Church Street.
