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The PSC's Governance and Security Committee heard a fleet-safety briefing from the summit's organisers as Guyana opened the 13th IRF Caribbean Regional Congress in Georgetown.
By LCN Newsroom | La Caribeña News
QUICK ANSWER Guyana's Private Sector Commission met representatives of Beyond the Wheels 2.0 for a Governance and Security Committee presentation on fleet management and road safety, as the 13th IRF Caribbean Regional Congress opened in Georgetown on 22 July 2026. |
GEORGETOWN, Guyana. The Private Sector Commission (PSC) Guyana has taken the country’s road-safety problem into its own committee room. Last week, the Commission’s Governance and Security Committee met representatives of Beyond the Wheels 2.0 for a presentation on fleet management and road safety, pitched at businesses that operate vehicle fleets.
The session brought in Carlyne Stewart, Chief Experience Officer of Clarke’s Productions Inc. (CPI), and Adrian Clarke, the company’s founder and principal. Both are behind Beyond the Wheels 2.0, the national transportation and safety summit set for 6 and 7 October 2026 at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre in Georgetown.
The engagement ran through the Commission’s Governance and Security Committee, chaired by Capt. Learie Barclay. The meeting was a discussion on matters of mutual interest beneficial to all companies operating fleets of motor vehicles.
What did the Private Sector Commission and Beyond the Wheels 2.0 discuss?
The presentation stayed practical: how fleet operators manage driver standards, fatigue, and operational risk, and why road safety belongs on a company balance sheet rather than a policy shelf. It landed on ground the PSC has already staked out. On 26 June 2026, the Commission stated publicly that poor road culture is costing Guyana billions, a rare instance of the private sector naming road safety as a direct economic loss rather than a traffic matter.
That the conversation moved through the Governance and Security Committee is itself a signal. The same committee that tracks crime and business risk now treats road safety as part of the same brief. It also arrives as women take a larger role in the Commission’s leadership, a shift La Caribeña News reported when women secured two of five top seats at the PSC.
Why is road safety a business cost in Guyana?
The numbers explain the urgency. Registered vehicles in Guyana have grown by roughly 187 percent over the past decade, according to figures the summit cites from the Guyana Revenue Authority, while the systems meant to keep those vehicles safe have not kept pace. Commercial transport operators feature in about one in four road fatalities, on National Road Safety Council data, and road incidents carry an estimated annual cost near G$14 billion, a figure attributed to the Ministry of Public Works.
For a fleet-running business, that cost is concrete: insurance premiums, vehicle downtime, liability, and lost staff time after a crash. An industry survey cited by the summit found that 68 percent of fleet operators rank driver fatigue among their top operational risks. Budget 2026 committed $196.1 billion to roads and bridges, yet oil-era incomes are putting new vehicles on those roads faster than driver culture or enforcement can adjust. La Caribeña News has argued before that the region needs Caribbean road-safety policy built on local data, not imported assumptions. The PSC session pointed in the same direction.
What is Beyond the Wheels 2.0?
Beyond the Wheels 2.0 is a two-day national transportation and safety summit, organised around nine working tracks that run from defensive driving and fleet modernisation to insurance, infrastructure, and regulatory reform. Capacity is set at 200 delegates, and the programme closes with a National Road Safety Declaration signed by participating institutions, operators, and government agencies.
The summit is convened by Clarke’s Productions Inc., a Georgetown training and consultancy organisation and a National Safety Council member, with more than two decades of work in defensive driving, first aid, and professional standards. It grew out of a smaller GMSA-linked business luncheon held in May 2025, an event the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association recorded as a response to rising traffic fatalities. The full picture of the summit, and the operator behind it, is set out in La Caribeña News’ profile of Carlyne Stewart’s quiet build toward Beyond the Wheels 2.0.
How does the 13th IRF Caribbean Regional Congress fit in?
The PSC meeting lands in a road-safety season. The 13th IRF Caribbean Regional Congress, staged by the International Road Federation and hosted by Guyana’s Ministry of Public Works, opened in Georgetown on 22 July 2026 and runs through 24 July. It returns to Guyana for the first time since 2019 and draws delegates from more than 30 Caribbean countries and territories, with sessions on road safety, climate resilience, infrastructure financing, and vehicle electrification.
Two gatherings now frame the same problem from two directions. The IRF Congress carries the regional and government weight of public-works ministries and development banks. Beyond the Wheels 2.0, in October, brings the private-sector and operator layer, the fleets and insurers who live with road risk daily. The PSC engagement is the thread between them, private-sector governance meeting a private-sector summit while the region’s road engineers are in town.
What does the engagement mean for fleet operators and MSMEs?
For fleet operators and smaller enterprises, the practical takeaway is that road safety is moving from advocacy into procurement, insurance, and training decisions. When the Commission’s governance arm hosts a fleet-safety briefing, it signals that member companies will be expected to treat driver standards as an operational discipline. Both the IRF Congress and Beyond the Wheels 2.0 align with the United Nations goal of halving road deaths by 2030, a target Guyana has adopted through its national road-safety work. The private sector has now put its own name to that goal.
Disclosure: La Caribeña News is a media partner of Beyond the Wheels 2.0, and LCN Managing Director Theon Alleyne is listed among the summit’s speakers. The Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association, where Alleyne chairs the Services Sub-Sector, co-hosted the 2025 predecessor luncheon. LCN maintains editorial separation between its commercial partnerships and its newsroom coverage.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did the Private Sector Commission discuss with Beyond the Wheels 2.0?
The PSC’s Governance and Security Committee held a short presentation on fleet management and road safety with the summit’s organisers last week. The session targeted companies that run vehicle fleets, covering driver standards, fatigue, and operational risk. It followed the Commission’s public position, stated on 26 June 2026, that poor road culture carries a measurable economic cost for Guyana.
When and where is Beyond the Wheels 2.0?
Beyond the Wheels 2.0 runs on 6 and 7 October 2026 at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre in Georgetown, Guyana. The two-day summit is convened by Clarke’s Productions Inc. and organised around nine transportation and safety tracks, with capacity for 200 delegates. It closes with a National Road Safety Declaration signed by participating institutions.
What is the 13th IRF Caribbean Regional Congress?
The 13th IRF Caribbean Regional Congress is a transport-infrastructure gathering of the International Road Federation, held in Georgetown from 21 to 24 July 2026 and hosted by Guyana’s Ministry of Public Works. It draws delegates from more than 30 Caribbean countries and territories, with sessions on road safety, climate resilience, infrastructure financing, and vehicle electrification.
Why is road safety a business issue in Guyana?
Registered vehicles in Guyana have grown sharply over the past decade while road-safety systems have lagged. Commercial operators feature in a large share of fatal incidents, and road crashes carry an annual cost estimated in the billions of Guyanese dollars. Fleet-running businesses absorb those costs through insurance, downtime, and liability, which is why the private sector has moved the issue onto its own agenda.
Who leads Beyond the Wheels 2.0?
Beyond the Wheels 2.0 is led by Carlyne Stewart, Chief Experience Officer of Clarke’s Productions Inc., alongside the company’s founder and principal, Adrian Clarke. Clarke’s Productions Inc. is a Georgetown training and consultancy organisation and a National Safety Council member, with more than two decades of work in defensive driving, first aid, and professional standards.