8.1 Restricted, Open-Road and Highway Limits

8.1 Restricted, Open-Road and Highway Limits

This OpenExamPrep chapter is independent study of section 35 and the Second Schedule of the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act, Cap. 51:02 (Ministry of Home Affairs consolidation), read with the Guyana Police Force (GPF) Learner/Driver Theoretical Programme (April 2025) and the Guyana Road Traffic Code. It is not a Police booklet and it is not a claim of official approval. When the booklet uses kilometres per hour and the Act uses miles per hour, learn both; the live GPF sitting is drawn largely from the three-book package, and the Act remains the statute.

Quick Answer: It is an offence to drive faster than the Second Schedule maximum for that class of vehicle. For motor cars, hire cars, motor cycles and other vehicles whose unladen weight is not in excess of 25 cwt, those maxima are 30 mph on restricted roads, 60 mph on the Timehri Field/Linden Highway, and 40 mph elsewhere. Motor buses, goods vehicles and other vehicles over 25 cwt unladen are 30 mph restricted and 40 mph elsewhere — there is no 60 mph highway row for that heavier class. Motor tractors are 15 mph. A first or second speeding conviction does not by itself disqualify. One witness's opinion of speed is not enough to convict. Posted signs and lower learner or tractor caps still bind (section 8.2).

What section 35 actually does

Section 35(1) is the offence. It is not lawful for any person to drive a motor vehicle of any class or description on a road at a speed greater than the speed specified in the Second Schedule as the maximum for a vehicle of that class or description. If you do, you are guilty of an offence.

The Schedule is a class-and-place table, not a single national number. "How fast may I go in Guyana?" is the wrong exam question. The right questions are: what vehicle, where, who is driving it, and what sign is posted.

Section 35(4) lets the Minister vary the Second Schedule by regulation, subject to conditions in that regulation. That is how a later regulatory or posted maximum can sit beside the printed mph table. Until a sign or regulation changes the live figure, the Schedule is the statutory map. When a sign is up, obey the sign — and still obey any lower class, learner, or tractor cap (section 8.2).

First and second conviction: no automatic disqualification

Section 35(2): a first or second conviction for an offence under this section shall not render the offender liable to be disqualified from holding or obtaining a licence. Speeding is still an offence. You can still be fined. The Act simply says those first two speeding convictions do not by themselves trigger disqualification under this section.

Do not confuse that shield with drink-drive disqualification, reckless or dangerous driving, or a court using other powers for a different offence. Two speeding tickets are not "free speeding." They are two convictions that, under section 35, do not automatically take the licence away.

One witness's opinion is not enough

Section 35(3): a person charged with driving at a speed greater than the class maximum shall not be liable to be convicted solely on the evidence of one witness to the effect that in the opinion of the witness the person charged was driving at such greater speed. A single observer saying "you looked fast" is not enough. That is an evidence rule for this speeding charge, not a permission to speed because nobody had a camera.

The Second Schedule for light vehicles

Item 1 covers motor cars, hire cars, motor cycles and other vehicles the unladen weight whereof is not in excess of 25 cwt. Three place-rows:

Restricted is the town and named-stretch map in paragraph 4 of the Schedule. It includes Georgetown, New Amsterdam, named East Bank and East Coast stretches, roads in the Timehri International Airport area, Bartica, listed Essequibo, West Coast Demerara, West Coast Berbice and Corentyne stretches, any town under the Municipal and District Councils Act, and any road the Licensing Authority declares restricted in the Gazette and a newspaper. The full named list is in section 8.2. On those roads a light vehicle's Act ceiling is 30 mph, not 40 and not 60.

Elsewhere is the open-road default when you are not on a restricted road and not on the Timehri Field/Linden Highway row: 40 mph.

Timehri Field/Linden Highway is the only Second Schedule row that prints 60 mph, and only for the light class in item 1. It is not a slogan that "all highways are 60" and it is not a licence to ignore a later posted maximum.

Airport area versus the highway — a Timehri trap

Roads in the Timehri International Airport area are restricted roads (paragraph 4(c)): 30 mph for the light class. The Timehri Field/Linden Highway is the 60 mph row. Mixing those two Timehri labels is a classic trap. Airport-area roads are not 60 mph because the highway starts nearby. Highway driving is not 30 mph because the airport is nearby. Read the place-name on the question.

Heavier buses and goods vehicles

Item 2 covers motor buses, goods vehicles and other vehicles whose unladen weight is in excess of 25 cwt:

• Restricted roads: 30 mph
• Elsewhere: 40 mph

There is no 60 mph Timehri Field/Linden Highway figure for this heavier class. A goods vehicle over 25 cwt unladen does not inherit the light-car highway number. Off restricted roads its Act ceiling is 40 mph, and a posted sign lower than that still binds.

What this section does not finish

Item 3 prints 15 mph for motor tractors, with no restricted/elsewhere split. A provisional-licence holder is capped at 25 mph. A non-tractor drawing a trailer subtracts 5 mph from the class maximum. Those special caps, the full restricted-road list, GPF's 80 km/h posting on the Soesdyke–Linden Highway, and the Demerara Harbour Bridge and Canje Bridge are section 8.2. Do not treat 30/40/60 as applying to a tractor or to a learner.

Metric figures the sitting also uses

GPF teaching and many modern signs speak in km/h. Useful conversions that match the urban/open-road pair used in this independent study:

• Restricted / urban: 30 mph ≈ 48 km/h
• Open road (elsewhere): 40 mph ≈ 64 km/h
• Light-car Act highway row: 60 mph ≈ 97 km/h

Do not treat unofficial 80 km/h or 100 km/h everywhere as the general Guyana limits. 80 km/h on the Soesdyke–Linden Highway is a posted GPF figure from February 2020, taught in 8.2. 100 km/h is what some drivers used as a highway habit, roughly the Act 60 mph row, not a permission to ignore signs or to speed in Georgetown.

The Schedule is a maximum, not a target

The Road Traffic Code, on the Rule 22 page, adds a safety ceiling below the Schedule: never drive or ride at such a speed that you cannot pull up well within the distance you can see to be clear. Go much more slowly if the road is wet or slippery. Always leave enough room in which to stop. At night, drive well within the limits of your lights and be specially careful when headlights are dipped. Take special care when visibility is bad through rain or darkness. Go slowly on roads under repair. Slow down before a blind corner or sharp bend, then accelerate out of it.

So even at a legal 30 mph on a Georgetown restricted road, a flooded street, a school patrol, or a minibus stopped ahead can make 30 mph too fast. Stopping distances in section 8.3 show why thinking distance plus braking distance can eat a whole block of Church Street before the wheels stop.

On the Demerara Harbour Bridge and the Canje Bridge, Code rule 27 says drive carefully and within the speed limit prescribed. Those named crossings are not a third Act mph row; they are a care-and-posted-limit duty. Left-hand traffic still applies on the deck.

Exam map for 8.1

• Light class (not over 25 cwt unladen): 30 restricted, 60 Timehri Field/Linden Highway, 40 elsewhere.
• Heavy buses/goods over 25 cwt: 30 restricted, 40 elsewhere — no 60.
• Timehri airport area = restricted 30; Timehri Field/Linden Highway = 60 for light vehicles, subject to posted signs.
• s.35(1) offence; s.35(2) first/second speeding conviction does not by itself disqualify; s.35(3) one witness's opinion is not enough.
• The Code still requires a speed from which you can stop in the distance you can see.

Independent OpenExamPrep teaching of these speed topics follows the published Act table and Code safety lines. It does not replace the GPF three-book package.