Latest update April 25th, 2024 12:59 AM
Feb 19, 2015 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom
When in Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, one of the characters, Mr. Bramble is told that the law supposes that his wife acts under his direction, he replied, “If the law supposes that, the law is an ass”.
In order to control the traffic situation on Camp Street in the vicinity of the Guyana Revenue Authority, no-parking signs have been painted on the roadway in front of the GRA’s offices. Guyanese motorists, including GRA staffers have however found an ingenious way to flout the regulation prohibiting parking while remaining within the law. Or at least this is what they feel.
What motorists are doing is to park off the roadway and on the parapets that border the no- parking signs. They believe that even though there is a no- parking sign pained on the road, this applies to the asphalted surface and not the parapets alongside the said road. Thus, they park on the parapets. If this is lawful, then the law must be an ass.
I saw the same thing happen on the western carriageway of the Avenue of the Republic. The High Court had prohibited parking on both carriageways running parallel to the Court’s fence. But a number of smart persons decided that while it was unlawful for the wheels of their vehicles to touch the roadway in the parked position, it was okay if they parked on the parapet.
What I find particularly disturbing is that the Guyana Police Force seems to be accepting this interpretation of the law. They are condoning vehicles parking on the parapets alongside the no-parking signs on Camp Street in the vicinity of the Guyana Revenue Authority. How can this be the interpretation of the law? How can someone see a no-parking sign and decide that it only applies to the roadway and not the parapet alongside the roadway?
I do not believe that any court of law will uphold that the no- parking sign does not apply to the parapets that run alongside the roadway.
This situation came to my attention when a police siren assailed the air one day while I was in the vicinity of the GRA. I suspected that it must have been an emergency. There was a long line of traffic and because the parapets outside the GRA were occupied by parked vehicles, there was no way the motorists on the road itself could have pulled over to give way to the police vehicle.
Ironically the police was not any emergency. They simply wanted easy passage through that busy corridor in order to drop off a rank who was supposed to ensure that there was order in that area.
Another problem that I have noted is the practice of vendors occupying spots at the traffic light junctions. Now if a vehicle parks at a junction, regardless of whether there is a traffic light, that vehicle would be considered to be in breach of the law, no matter how temporary that vehicle may have parked. It is unlawful to park at a junction.
But vendors are being allowed to park their receptacles at junctions and they are not being charged. These receptacles are not vehicles and thus it is felt by the vendors that the traffic ranks cannot intervene to stop them. The law must be an ass if this is so.
Further these vendors are putting their lives in danger. Since the Guyana Police Force has a general responsibility to preserve lives, then the police should be acting to ensure that any practice that endangers lives is discouraged.
This is not happening at all. During the Christmas Season, there were a number of revelers, masquerading at masqueraders, stopping traffic in the middle of public roads and soliciting money for motorists. This is pure extortion because the revelers are standing in front of your vehicle and if you want to move forward you have to give them some money. More importantly, they were putting their own lives in danger. The police should never have allowed this to happen, even in the name of reviving a dying tradition.
It should not be lawful to park on the parapets alongside a no- parking sign. Vendors should not be allowed to ply their trade at traffic junctions. Masqueraders must not prevent the smooth flow of vehicular traffic. The law must not allow itself to become an ass.
Jagdeo giving Exxon 102 cent to collect 2 cent.
Apr 25, 2024
By Rawle Toney Kaieteur Sports – The French Diplomatic Office in Guyana, in collaboration with the Guyana Olympic Association and UNICEF, hosted an exhibition on Tuesday evening at the...Kaieteur News – Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, the General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party, persists in offering... more
By Sir Ronald Sanders Waterfalls Magazine – On April 10, the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States... more
Freedom of speech is our core value at Kaieteur News. If the letter/e-mail you sent was not published, and you believe that its contents were not libellous, let us know, please contact us by phone or email.
Feel free to send us your comments and/or criticisms.
Contact: 624-6456; 225-8452; 225-8458; 225-8463; 225-8465; 225-8473 or 225-8491.
Or by Email: [email protected] / [email protected]