Crash victim’s mom begs drivers to obey road code

As she makes final preparations to bury her son this Sunday, a grieving mother said she is imploring motorists to obey the road code in order to decrease fatalities.

Grace Ricketts said she strongly believes that her beloved son Howard Berry would be alive today if the driver of an ill-fated vehicle was driving at a moderate pace.

"Follow the road code and everyone will reach their destination safely. We need to understand that speed kills. My son fraid a fast driving and him is one who will beg yuh to slow down if you are driving fast. Mi and him inna taxi already and him beg the driver to slow [down], and when he didn't, he asked that him [should] let him out. Mi shock him dead this way. I was told that he was sleeping when the accident happened," she said.

Berry passed away at the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) on December 8, approximately two weeks after the vehicle in which he was a passenger crashed along the Broadgate main road in St Mary. It is alleged that the driver fled the scene. THE STAR attempted to get an update from the Annotto Bay police on whether the driver had been charged, however the superintendent could not be reached.

Ricketts said that she was unaware that her son had left their home in Richmond on the fateful day, November 23.

"I thought he was in the house eno. Mi and him deh here the Saturday night and him say him nah go anywhere. The Sunday morning mi deh on the verandah and say mi ago ask him what we gonna look after for breakfast, and then I get a phone call say him inna accident but him never dead," she said.

Berry was initially admitted to the Annotto Bay Hospital in St Mary. Ricketts said the thought of her son dying never crossed her mind until she saw him in the hospital; she tried to brace herself for the worst.

"The doctors say three bones inna him neck break and seven of his ribs were fractured, [he also had] punctured lungs and internal bleeding. He was able to speak to me but he wasn't looking good," she said. Ricketts said Berry was later placed in an induced coma and transferred from Annotto Bay to KPH on November 27. But he didn't make it.

"Three of them in the car eno but he is the only one who died. No one else got hurt. Mi son hustle at parties so he would go out and sell snacks and other little things. Mi a take it very hard eno and right now it's like mi can hardly move. Howard was vibes person and he was a good son. He was my life. When mi sick a him wash mi clothes and cook for me. Him never tell mi no," she said.

According to data from the Island Traffic Authority, Jamaica recorded 365 fatalities from 315 fatal collisions last year. Four parishes accounted for 53 per cent of the total fatalities. They are St Catherine (17 per cent), Westmoreland (16 per cent), St Andrew (10 per cent), and St Ann (10 per cent). As of February 18, 49 road fatalities have been recorded, resulting from 44 fatal collisions. This represents a nine per cent decrease when compared to the corresponding period last year