…Careless driving seen as major contributor The 100 fatal accidents this year have resulted in the demise of 118 persons on the roadways thus far. However, in comparison to last year, there has been an 11.2 percent decrease.From left: National Coordinator of Community Policing Groups (CPGs) Dennis Pompey, Traffic Chief Dion Moore and Executive Member of the Guyana National Road Safety Council, Shahab Hack.This was revealed at a press conference held by the Guyana National Road Safety Council (GNRSC) and the Guyana Police Force (GPF) at the Guyana Traffic Headquarters in Eve Leary, on Friday.Last year, there were 124 fatal accidents resulting in 133 deaths.According to Traffic Chief, Dion Moore, among the highest number fatalities this year were pedestrians who numbered 41, followed by passengers of private motor vehicles and hire cars, 23; pillion riders, 17, motorcyclists, 16; and pedal cyclists 11.“We recognise that there are a lot of good drivers and equally, there are a lot of drivers who, for vain reasons, choose to do the wrong thing,” Moore said.To back up this claim,NFL Jerseys China, Moore made reference to the “number of cases being made” such as speeding, driving under the influence of alcohol and failing to adhere to sirens which were 22,663; 2,452; and 1,086 respectively.Also, driving while using cellphones were 1,347; and music in public transportation,Jerseys NFL Wholesale, 3,727.Moore stated that as part of the strategy to minimise accidents and fatalities, the GPF has already embarked on a mission to improve the learner/driver’s programme.He explained that monitoring has intensified due to the allegation of unprofessional behaviour being portrayed by both members of the GPF and also members of the public.Since this implementation, Moore said, persons who were scheduled to write the exams – after recognizing the changes – have began to backpedal; pulling out of the programme by absenting or by choosing not to write the exam.Shahab Hack, a member of the GNRSC, said that while the council is pleased with the figures as opposed to last year’s,Wholesale Jerseys 2017, it was not a number they had expected it to be.He explained that while the decrease is good,Alejandro Gomez Jersey, when they looked back at the 118 deaths on a case to case basis, many accidents and deaths would have been avoided if persons had only adhered to the rules of the road.Hack then urged members of the public to make a conservative effort in the way they use the roadways pointing out that it would be reflection of the accidents and fatalities.“Right now we are not looking good internationally…We are losing too many lives on our roadways for very,NFL Jerseys Cheap, very silly reasons. People are using the roadways irresponsibly; it’s as if they do not care…? We are calling out to religious leaders to speak to their constituents; we cannot afford to lose more lives.” he said.Speaking at the conference was Devaugh Lewis, a representative of the Red Cross Society.Lewis stated that the society plays an advocacy role in the GNRSC and will continue to do so.“We are also going to lend our expertise in training in terms of first-aid, where we train almost 5,000 persons per year. We have included road safety in our first-aid. We have also engaged the police in training and trying to upgrade the learner/driver permit so that it includes a first-aid component,”Lewis said.Lewis also said that the International Federation of Red Cross will be launching a personal safety booklet for road users. The booklet would entail ten commitments for road users and drivers would be asked to sign on. This is scheduled to start next year.National Coordinator of Community Policing Groups (CPGs) Dennis Pompey, said on Friday that the GPF’s plans for next year will entail the intensifying of activities advocating safer road use, that is, school campaigns will continue across the country and systems would be put in place to have the activities quarterly, where they should have “something to promote safer road use”.More emphasis would also be placed on making sure that vehicles are properly outfitted with the necessary requirements; proper tires, proper safety belts and vehicles that transport children will have to acquire proper facilities to ensure maximum safety to little ones.It was also reported that there has been some engagements with several government ministries such as the Ministry of Public Infrastructure to aid in the upgrade of roads, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Public Security.The GNRSC will also be issuing its first road safety magazine. It was scheduled to be introduced during November last but due to “some

While Guyana is being labeled a major transshipment point for South American cocaine destined for North America and Europe, President Bharrat Jagdeo has admonished the local police for not cracking down on drug houses.Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Annual Police Officers’ Conference yesterday, the President said that he is not satisfied with the police’s efforts against the ‘pushers’.“I still have not seen much effort by the Police Force in tackling the drug houses. We know the ones that sell drugs in our communities. We know them, they’re there. We need to go after them aggressively because these are the ones who are pedaling the death in our communities,Cheap Jerseys From China Online, creating a whole spin-off of petty crimes,” the President stated.He said that if the Police Force wants to maintain control over the crime situation and reduce the statistics,Jerseys Wholesale, then they have to focus more on the drug blocks, since drug addicts are responsible for most of the petty crimes.But Commissioner of Police Henry Greene told the conference that while the Guyana Police Force has managed to make two cases that involved cocaine found in the United States,Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping, they have been concentrating on the local drug houses.He said that the force is currently investigating another matter of drugs leaving Guyana and ending up in the US and the Director of Public Prosecutions is expected to offer her advice.He acknowledged that the local police force has been getting assistance from the US,NFL Jerseys China, but this is limited in its scope.He cited the sealed indictment procedure as the reason for the inadequate flow of information from the US. However he indicated that the force has been targeting drug houses.He disclosed that for last year a total of 107 suspected ‘drug blocks’ were targeted.According to Greene,Wholesale Authentic Jerseys, a total of 698 searches were conducted,Wholesale Jerseys From China, netting 27 kilograms of marijuana and 639 grams of cocaine.Over 200 persons were charged for trafficking in cannabis and several others for cocaine.According to President Jagdeo, the government has increased its allocation of funds to the Salvation Army to assist them with expanding their drug rehabilitation programme.

Stigma and discrimination were regarded yesterday as the driving force behind the spread of HIV/AIDS, and therefore they are aspects that must be addressed with immense urgency.This disclosure was made by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Caribbean Family Planning Affiliation (CFPA) Limited, Dr Tirbani Jagdeo, during a media briefing at the office of Dr Frederick Cox of the Guyana Responsible Parenthood Association (GRPA) on Quamina Street.According to Dr Jagdeo, it was the arrival of the anti-retroviral (ARV) therapy in the world that has,Cheap China Jerseys, in fact, created a new phase of the epidemic.“With ARV, more and more people will be surviving HIV. In the past, the case fatality ratio was about seven out of 10 people. But with ARV therapy, that is changing rapidly,” he added.As a result, he said, a significant amount of people are living longer, and living well in countries where there is an effective public health system.But even though the situation could be considered a public health success, Dr Jagdeo said, it has been fuelling the problem of stigma and discrimination.Through gossiping and other disclosures of persons’ status, there is a high potential of the problem deteriorating, instead of improving.Dr Jagdeo pointed out that it has been deduced that, because of stigma and discrimination, persons are not availing themselves to be tested and treated,wholesale jerseys, thus having the potential of increasing the spread of the virus.Yesterday, at the media briefing, Dr Jagdeo related the outcome of a recent three-day workshop which addressed stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA), which concluded on Thursday at the Regency Suite/Hotel.The workshop, which was hosted by the GRPA, was held in conjunction with the CFPA.The venture was funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) under a grant given to the CFPA to fight AIDS through training and education in 12 Caribbean countries, including Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, Dominica, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Jamaica and Guyana.According to Dr Jagdeo, who is a leading social scientist, the local workshop, which was made up of 25 PLHIV and five facilitators, adopted a plan of action urging the Government, international and regional organisations and civil society to integrate the concerns raised in the fight against HIV/AIDS.The workshop,Wholesale NFL Jerseys, he disclosed, had representatives from seven organisations, namely the GRPA, Youth Challenge Guyana, Volunteer Youth Corp, Love and Faith,Cheap Jerseys 2018, Life Line Counselling Services and Artistes in Direct Support.The named organisations, he said, are the primary non-governmental organisations that are already aiding the fight against HIV/AIDS.And, according to him, each representative has since committed to taking a proposed statement of action directly to their organisations, in order to move in the direction suggested during the workshop.Among the factors highlighted at the workshop was that strategies to reach out to PLHIVs explicitly recognise that these people are an internally diverse population with respect to age, gender, socio-economic status, sexual orientation, life styles and the degree of high risk behaviour that expose them to the virus.It was also noted that programme and policy sensitivity to the internal diversity is critical to the relevance of PLHIV and lend to the effectiveness in reducing the spread of HIV.Further, it was emphasised that infected persons are more than just people living with HIV, since, according to the participants,Cheap Jerseys USA, “Our HIV status does not define us. We are men and women with the capacity to contribute productively to all aspects of society, and are entitled to the respect and rights granted to all productive members of society.”And among the rights pointed out are: the right to work, access education, training and health care; freedom from insults, physical abuse, any form of discrimination issuing from the HIV status; and the rights of women based on the principles of gender equity and equality.In fact, the outcome of the workshop was such a success that Dr Jagdeo said that plans are already in place for corrective action to be streamlined.“At the end of the meeting, Dr Cox convened a group of seven people who will meet with UNAIDS very shortly to begin the process of transforming this statement of action into a plan of action which can be funded to promote the ideas suggested in the workshop.This, according to Dr Cox,Wholesale Jerseys USA, is evidence of concrete and almost immediate result from the