Cops moving to restrict road use by container trucks to ease congestion

The Guyana Police Force (GPF) is planning to restrict road use by container trucks during peak hours on roadways in Georgetown, and the East Demerara and West Demerara, in order to ease congestion.

The GPF said in a statement on Friday that there would be a restriction on access by lorries and container trucks between the hours of 7am and 9am, 11am and 1pm, and 3pm and 5pm.

The Traffic Chief, Senior Superintendent Linden Isles, along with Traffic Officer for Region 4 (B) Assistant Superintendent Jermaine Harper, met with owners and drivers of lorries/container trucks at Soesdyke Junction, where they outlined the plans.

When contacted by this newspaper, Isles explained that no start date has been set as yet for implementation of the measure.

According to the GPF statement, Isles said that one of the major causes of traffic congestion on the country’s roadways is the increasingly high volume of vehicles being imported and registered every year.

He also mentioned that the apparent inability of drivers to cope with overcrowded environment and overburdened infrastructure is indicative that the roadways are in a state of constant catastrophe, and noted that the limitations of the roads force drivers to manoeuvre vehicles of all classes, especially large trucks, in a manner that is often dangerous to other road users.

Isles added that further engagements would be held with companies that operate lorries and container trucks so as to apprise them of the plan.

Under Section 48 (1) of the Motor Vehicle and Road

Traffic Act, the Commissioner of Police can, with the approval of the Minister, make orders the “prohibition or restriction of the use of specified roads by motor or other vehicles of any specified class or description, generally or during particular hours.”