It may be everyday that minibus drivers toy with the lives of citizens on Guyana’s roadways, but it is not everyday that citizens stand up for their rights and defend themselves. In fact, passengers of minibuses have been known to go like sheep to the slaughter – sitting in buses where drivers drive recklessly, endangering their lives, without saying anything. On most occasions where a passenger dares to speak up and tell the driver to slow down or drive carefully, their gesture is not met with cooperation from other passengers, leaving them to “look like a fool.” On one occasion, I was the only person to disembark the bus of a reckless driver, while the others sat there like moo-moo goats, allowing the driver to senselessly endanger their lives.
Minibus accidents are frequent in Guyana, and it is largely due to reckless drivers, coupled with the complacency of the passengers who allow them to drive as they please. However, here is one case where all the passengers “held one head” and demanded their rights to safe travel – thus making Guyana’s roadways a tad bit safer. These passengers need to be praised for their heroic act as they have potentially saved the lives of countless people – and themselves.
This incident reportedly happened on the 22nd of October, 2022, and it was posted online by Guyanese Citizen Stanislus Mickle. This is his story.
“Good afternoon to all my Facebook family and friends please help me make this go viral. This morning I caught a (route) 42 bus BYY 7852 and it was the most unpleasant experience I ever had traveling in a bus.
The driver was driving recklessly almost loosing control of the bus. When I spoke to him about the manner in which he was driving he said “this is my bus and I could drive how I f***ing want.” He then turned his music volume extremely loud making all the passengers uncomfortable. When the passengers started to complain about both the speeding and the loud music, he turned and said to all the passengers, “if yall want, catch a next f*** ing bus.” Almost everyone immediately started talking to him about his conduct, and he said he would have to put us out. He continued with his loud music and speeding and then stopped in a rash manner and everyone exited the vehicle except 2 men in the military force and 1 other passenger.
My friends, this is the problem that we are facing in Guyana with some bus drivers and I hope those 3 passengers that stayed in that bus know that they are encouraging mini bus drivers to continue disrespecting passengers when they talk for their rights.
I hope the relevant authorities look into this matter because this is utter nonsense.
