‘Soul’ funeral processions on ECD road causing prolonged traffic delays

Last Updated on Sunday, 1 June 2025, 21:25 by Writer

Motorists at the weekend continued to complain that ‘soul’ funeral processions on the East Coast Demerara Public Road is causing severe delays because traffic police seemed helpless in managing the traffic, but a top officer of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) said stern action would be taken against road users.

A motorist, speaking on condition of anonymity, said his wife, who was heading to Berbice, got stuck in the traffic at Golden Grove, for at least three hours.

Another motorist, Jimmy Bhojedat, vented his frustration on social media. “Like seriously when would the Police put a stop to the nonsense of funerals blocking up the East Coast Public Road?….. traffic at a standstill from way before Buxton to Golden Grove.. Why is this lawlessness allowed?” he said. Mr Bhojedat said he left Georgetown at 3:30 p.m. and arrived home at 7:45 p.m. He added that police on duty did not take any action. “And the police is in full attendance, allowing the lawlessness.”

Another motorist, Ramona Ganchand, complained that “it took me 3 hours from town to Mahaicony. A commuter recalled that last week, she joined a bus at 2 p.m. and arrived home after 6 p.m. “Very sickening.”

Traffic Chief, Assistant Police Commissioner Mahendra Singh said he would use the current lessons and try “my level best” to bring relief. He also intends to write a plan that would include what would be expected by the public. While apologising for the inconvenience, he said the situation “is not the fault of the Traffic Department. He said he would be asking for more resources to manage the congestion.

Among the other steps is the arrest and prosecution of pedestrians. “One of the things I will aspire to do is that those, who are arrested, where it is a case we couldn’t prevent or use an alternative, when they are placed before the court, I will ensure they are published so that everyone could follow the news. You can’t allow it to appear one way as if we are just sitting ducks or spectators to what the problem is and stand idly and do nothing about it,” he told Demerara Waves Online News.

Mr Singh explained that the problem was being largely caused on the narrow single two-lane road from Annandale to Belfield. He said most of the church services and burials take place at Golden Grove in the vicinity of the market. He said that was being compounded by motorists who refused to drive on the left hand side of the road but overtake in a manner that is dangerous to other road users and form second and third lanes. “What that does now is that it congests all the traffic because it brings everything to a halt so you can’t flow,” he said. Mr Singh said the congestion is also compounded by pedestrians in the procession who cross the road in the moving traffic, causing motorists to stop, followed by large numbers of persons opt to cross the road.

In light of those problems, he said police are deployed on foot and motorcycles to support traffic movement rather than curtailing the procession. He said police on Saturday were “able to mitigate” the movement of large numbers of persons across the road somewhat. “When you take alcohol consumption and very irresponsible use of the road by pedestrians, that puts motorists at a disadvantage,” he said.

The Traffic Chief said police were wary of arresting pedestrians under the circumstances of grief associated with a funeral. “We tried, it is not that we didn’t try to keep the traffic moving,” he said.

He promised that police would continue providing awareness, and deployment of patrols to support unhindered movement of traffic and pedestrians.