We are not even at the end of August yet, and Suriname has already recorded 67 road fatalities, based on public reports.
On 15 August, Road Safety Month began with 61 road fatalities. Two days later, the figure had already risen to 64. More people then died in accidents on, among others, the Melkweg, Dageraadweg and Sir Winston Churchillweg. This brings the total to 67.
In 2025, we recorded 61 road fatalities.
This means that by August 2026, we have already surpassed the total for all of last year.
That is not a figure to read briefly and then scroll past.
67 people did not make it home.
Behind every road fatality is a family. A mother, father, partner, child, brother, sister or friend left behind.
The government’s responsibility
Our roads must be safe. Street lighting must work. Traffic signs and road markings must be in order. There must be checks for speeding, alcohol use, driving licences and the technical condition of vehicles.
The new Strategic Road Safety Plan 2026-2030 shows that Suriname does not even have a single central database for traffic statistics. It also identifies issues such as inadequate road maintenance, shortcomings in vehicle inspections and insufficient services for victims after an accident.
That must improve.
But that is not all.
Let us also look at our own responsibility
In Suriname, we have become extremely good at pointing the finger at the government.
The road is bad.
The lighting is inadequate.
The police do not carry out enough checks.
All valid criticism.
But who presses the accelerator?
Who overtakes where it is not actually possible?
Who gets behind the wheel after drinking alcohol?
Who drives with a phone in their hand?
Who rides without a helmet?
Who ignores a red traffic light?
Who drives as if the public road is a private racetrack?
The road user does that themselves.
The government can install a speed bump, but it cannot take your foot off the accelerator.
The police can carry out checks, but cannot follow every motorist or moped rider.
Responsibility therefore also begins with ourselves.
Between January and July, no fewer than 2,259 traffic victims ended up at the Emergency Department of the Academic Hospital Paramaribo. That amounts to nearly eleven victims per day. Moped riders and motorcyclists are a particularly vulnerable group.
Eleven per day.
When do we consider that a lot?
At twenty?
At thirty?
Or only when we ourselves, or someone in our family, ends up at the Emergency Department?
“No du gek, tap a wegdek”
The theme of Road Safety Month is particularly apt this year:
“No du gek, tap a wegdek.”
But it must not remain just a slogan.
No campaign helps if people drive home at high speed afterwards.
No poster prevents a fatal collision when someone decides to get behind the wheel while drunk.
And no minister can prevent someone from paying attention to their phone instead of traffic while driving.
The government must do its part.
The police must enforce the law.
Infrastructure must become safer.
But we, the road users, must stop acting as if traffic rules were written for others.
67 road fatalities before the end of August is not normal.
We do not have to wait for number 70, 80 or 100.
Everyone who takes part in traffic has one simple task:
Make sure you get home safely, but above all make sure that others get home safely too.
Because your hurry is never worth more than someone’s life.
