Road deaths continue to soar

About 12 more persons could die as a result of crashes on the nation's roads by the end of the year based on projections by the Road Safety Unit in the transport ministry.

As at yesterday, 416 road fatalities have been recorded, and the modeling suggests that the number could climb to 428 by midnight on Sunday.

In 2022, a record 488 road fatalities occurred on the nation's roadways. This year, road deaths have decreased by 14 per cent, as of yesterday, but way above the 300 target set by road safety officials nearly a decade ago.

"It's a relief that we are down 14 per cent, but that's not our goal ...We're talking about 200 really, that's our goal according to the UN figures," said Dr Lucien Jones, vice chair of the National Road Safety Council.

The Road Safety Unit has called for increased caution when traversing the roadways, despite road crashes and fatalities trending down.

During the period July-September, 95 lives were lost to road crashes with motorcyclists accounting for the highest, followed by pedestrians and private motor vehicle drivers. Thirty-one persons have died in crashes during the first 27 days of December.

Approximately 7,750 persons have died as a result of motor vehicle crashes in Jamaica since 2003. The lowest tallied road deaths was 260 in 2012. More than 400 road deaths have been recorded every year since 2019.

"Ever since we achieved 260 in 2012, we've been trying to keep the numbers down," Jones said.

He said that reckless driving is a major cause for crash fatalities, and added that a lack of safety systems recommended by the World Health Organization is also major contributing factor to road fatalities.

"Safe systems involve making sure you have safe roads, safe speeds, safe road users, safe vehicles and an efficient post-crash system where when somebody is injured, they can be extracted safely," Jones said adding that if all these are implemented, road fatalities could be possibly reduced by 70 per cent.