LED headlamps

Occasionally, I listen to the Guyana Police Force’s Road Safety morning radio programmes on the Voice of Guyana. That Police PR programme is informative, educational and compliance focused.

On November 8, 2018, the presenter focused on the illegal use of LED headlamps (ultra-bright bluish lights) installed on vehicles by some motorists and the risks they pose to public safety. We all would have experienced the blinding effects of these lights particularly from some oncoming traffic when travelling at nights.

While the police PR is good, I doubt that most of the targeted defaulters hear, pay attention or even care about such regulations and the risks their practices pose to others. Some of them have the means to stay above the law period.

What might be more useful, would be a collaborative approach with the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) to prevent the importation of those lights in the first place.

The police deem LED headlamps fitted on vehicles as illegal, just like the possession and use of firecrackers (squibs) or narcotics, yet LED lights are sold openly in almost every store where automobile spares and accessories are available.

This is something for the Ministry of Public Security in concert with the GRA.

Guyana is a strange country – the cart always seems to be pulling the horse! Yours faithfully, Orette Cutting