Five road fatalities in first five days of the year

Vice Chairman of the National Road Safety Council, Dr Lucien Jones, has voiced concern over what he says is the alarming number of fatalities on the roads since the beginning of the year.

Five people have lost their lives in road accidents in the first five days. They include two pedestrians, one pedal cyclist, one pillion passenger and a private motor car driver. 

The fatal accidents happened in St James, Hanover, Westmoreland, St Andrew and St Mary. 

“This is not a good start, this is not the start that we're hoping for to try and ambitiously reduce the number of people who die in 2025 to 20 per cent less than 2024,” Jones said. 

A total of 364 people died on the country's roadways in 2024, the lowest in seven years, according to official data.

Jamaica recorded over 400 road deaths for each calendar year from 2019 to 2023, including the historic 488 deaths in 2022.

Emphasising the urgent need to tackle the escalating number of road fatalities before they spiral "completely out of control", Jones revealed that four meetings have been requested with the government.

He said these discussions will focus on enhancing the capacity of the National Road Safety Council, addressing issues related to motorcyclists and improving safety for pedestrians. 

According to Jones, motorcyclists and pedestrians “constitute the biggest problem we have on our roads”. 

He also pointed to reports of people continuing to use their cellphones while driving, as well as incidents of drinking and driving. Additionally, he expressed concern over reckless overtaking and motorcyclists not wearing helmets.

“We are trying to mobilise the entire country, both the government and the private sector to provide the National Road Safety Council with the resources, human capacity and financial resources, that we need to fulfil our ambition to once again, organise as a nation that we can have at the end another 20 per cent reduction in this second leading cause of violent death in the country,” he said. 

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