20.3 Reckless Driving, Careless Driving and Accident Duties

Subject 13’s “minor” Regulation cluster is not the end of the offence chapter. The Act still names causing death by reckless or dangerous driving, reckless or dangerous driving, and careless driving. The Guyana Road Traffic Code repeats the same ideas as MUST NOT / MUST DRIVE rules, then tells you what to do when a crash has already happened, and how the later practical competence test works. This OpenExamPrep section is independent study of those published pages. It is not a GPF charging manual.

Quick Answer: Section 36 — death by reckless or dangerous driving, indictment, ten years. Section 37 — reckless or dangerous driving, published summary and indictment fines (GY$25,000–$50,000 or 12 months on a first summary conviction). Careless — without due care and attention or without reasonable consideration. Code 79–81: no drink or drugs; no reckless or dangerous driving; due care and reasonable consideration. After a crash: control traffic, stop, identify, help, report. Fail the practical test: wait a month — not the same clock as a theory re-sit.

Which section numbers to learn

The Ministry of Home Affairs Cap. 51:02 PDF listed in the GPF study package numbers causing death as section 36 and reckless or dangerous driving as section 37. Careless driving is the next section in that PDF (section 38). Later reprints insert section 37A (hand-held phones, already taught in the phones chapter) and Part VIA seat belts, and some tables shift nearby numbers. Learn the substance the package uses: death by reckless driving is the ten-year indictment offence; reckless driving is the high-fine driving offence; careless driving is the due-care offence. If a question names the section, match the Home Affairs numbering unless the paper quotes a later reprint in full.

The test of manner of driving is the same idea in death and in reckless driving: driving recklessly, or at a speed or in a manner which is dangerous to the public, having regard to all the circumstances, including the nature, condition and use of the road, and the amount of traffic actually there or which might reasonably be expected to be there. A quiet Sunday on the Soesdyke–Linden Highway is not an excuse to treat the road as empty if traffic might reasonably be expected. A wet East Coast surface is part of the “condition of the road.”

Published liabilities (do not invent extra years or dollars)

On a reckless-driving conviction the court shall order particulars endorsed on any licence held. On a second or subsequent reckless conviction the court shall disqualify unless, having regard to the lapse of time since the last conviction or any other special reason, it thinks fit to order otherwise — and that sentence does not take away the court’s power to disqualify even on a first conviction.

If the jury on a death charge is not satisfied that the driving caused the death, but is satisfied the driving was reckless or dangerous as described, they may convict of the reckless-driving offence. That is how the statute keeps a death trial from collapsing into “nothing” when the driving was still dangerous.

Careless driving is the lower rung: no due care and attention, or no reasonable consideration for other road users. It is still an offence. The Code’s rule 81 is the same idea in teaching English. A first careless conviction shall not by itself disqualify. That is not a permission slip to drive without consideration on a Georgetown pedestrian crossing.

Code rules 79–81 — the MUST NOT / MUST DRIVE block

79. You MUST NOT drive when you are under the influence of drink or drug.

80. You MUST NOT drive recklessly or in a manner or at a speed which is dangerous to the public.

81. You MUST DRIVE with due care and attention and with reasonable consideration for other road users at all times.

Drink-and-drug detail (prescribed limit, breath test, GY$7,500 first-time programme figure) belongs to the alcohol chapter. Here you only need the Code’s absolute: do not drive under drink or drug. Reckless speed or manner is forbidden even if you are sober. Due care is required even if you are under the posted limit. The horn still does not give right of way (rule 76) while you try to “clear” a hold-up.

Accident duties — Code first, then the Act

The Road Traffic Code page “First aid on the road when an accident happens” is written for the person who is there, including a learner who arrives first.

Control traffic so as to avoid further accidents. Ask motorists and bystanders for help in this. That is the first published move: stop the second crash on the East Bank or at a Georgetown junction before you become a second casualty.

Have someone summon an ambulance, a doctor, and the police.

Move the casualty only if there is immediate danger of fire from spilled petrol (no smoking) or if danger from traffic cannot be averted. When the casualty must be moved, handle with great care, particularly if broken bones are suspected or there is pain in the back. First aid does not replace qualified aid.

Do not give the casualty alcohol, tea, or other fluid — they may need an anaesthetic at hospital. Keep simple first-aid materials in the vehicle if you can. Training with St. John Ambulance or the Red Cross is the Code’s preparedness line, not a substitute for calling help.

The Act’s duty to stop in case of accident sits beside that page. If, owing to the presence of a motor vehicle on a road, an accident occurs resulting in injury or death to any person other than the driver of that vehicle, or damage to property, or injury to any animal under control, the driver shall:

1. Immediately stop the vehicle at the scene.
2. Give name, address, and registration number, and exhibit the driver’s licence, to any person injured if practicable, to the driver or other occupant of any vehicle collided with, and to any other person present with reasonable grounds for requiring that information.
3. Render assistance to any person injured, including carrying that person to a duly registered medical practitioner if treatment is apparent or requested.

If injury is caused to any person, or if the driver does not give name and address as required, the driver shall report the accident at a police station or to a police constable as soon as reasonably practicable, and in any case within twenty-four hours.

“Animal” in that section means any horse, cattle, ass, mule, sheep, goat, or dog. Failure to comply is an offence. Leaving the scene to “sort it out later” is the opposite of immediately stop, identify, help, and report.

The practical test is not the theory paper

The Code’s advice for people intending to take the driver’s test is about the practical competence test conducted by a Certifying Officer — the on-road sitting after theory and a provisional licence, not the electronic multiple-choice at an approved GPF centre.

The object of the test. However little you mean to drive, if you pass you will be issued with a licence allowing you to drive anywhere in Guyana, town or country. The Certifying Officer must be satisfied that, whatever the traffic conditions, you can handle your vehicle with safety and with consideration for all road users, in the spirit of the Rules of the Road. Courtesy and consideration are not optional extras. The Code says the test is straightforward and there are no traps: listen to the Certifying Officer’s directions. Do not ask for the test before you are really ready.

If you fail the practical test. You must wait a month before you can be re-examined. Certifying Officers are not permitted to discuss their reasons for failing applicants, but they help every applicant who fails by pointing out what aspects require special attention before another test.

That one-month practical wait is not the theory re-sit rule. Theory: qualifying mark 65 percent, programme re-sit fee GY$1,000 each additional sitting, wait about one month after a theory fail. Practical: wait a month for another competence test. Do not treat a failed road test as if paying GY$1,000 re-opened the electronic theory paper, and do not treat a theory fail as if you were already on the Certifying Officer’s route.

If you pass the practical test, the Code’s closing advice is to maintain driving as an art and keep the consideration you had to display on test. Reckless or careless driving after you are licensed is still the Act, still the Code MUST NOT / MUST DRIVE lines, and still a crash-scene duty if an accident happens.