Pres. Ali announces suspension of licences among tougher measures to clamp down on road lawlessness

President Dr Irfaan Ali today announced that law enforcement officials will be moving to suspend licences of drivers who have been caught speeding more than three times along the Heroes Highway.

The Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces made this announcement in a prerecorded message released to the public. He was flanked by a number of senior officials within the Guyana Police Force including the Commissioner of Police (acting) Clifton Hicken and Traffic Chief Mahendra Singh.

“We cannot continue to have this type of indiscipline on our roadways especially with the trucks and truck drivers,” President Ali declared.

“We will hold truck drivers responsible. I’ve asked the Attorney General to examine the laws to see where there are gaps so that truck owners can also have a responsible of ensuring their drivers work within guidelines. As it is now, the law provides for the suspension of licence and I’ve asked the Traffic Chief, Commissioner of Police and the leadership of the Guyana Police Force to take immediate steps to have this law implemented fully.”

The Head of State lamented that “with all the speeding that is taking place on our roadways, only 18 suspensions this year, does not speak to the magnitude of the issue we have on our roadways.”

He pointed out that based on the data captured by the cameras along the Heroes Highway, law enforcement officials have issued 893 speeding tickets so far this year.

President Ali said officials will go through these tickets and move to suspend the licences of the drivers who have sped more than three times along that highway.

According to President Ali, the government will soon move to erect speed advisories and digital boards to indicate speed of drivers along major roadways.

He noted too that additional body-cameras are being procured for traffic ranks. The Head of State also instructed better usage of CCTV footage to clamp down on errant drivers.

“Drivers on the whole but especially those truck drivers, public transportation drivers, I’m asking you, not to do anything special, all I’m asking you to do in the interest of saving lives, is to comply with the law, comply with the rules,” President Ali emphasised.

The President Ali called for traffic ranks to better enforce the updated traffic laws pertaining to the responsibility of bar owners, when it comes to selling alcohol to drivers.