Non-motorists account for most road fatalities - Dr Jones

Vulnerable road users are defined as non-motorised road users, such as pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists and persons with disabilities or reduced mobility and orientation.

Of the fatalities, there were 48 pedestrians, 12 pedal cyclists and 98 travelling on a motorcycle. Eighty-nine drivers and nine pillion passengers also died in road accidents.

On September 24, 11-year-old Marla Richards, a Vere Technical High student, died after being hit by bus. Another student of the Clarendon-based institution was injured in a separate incident and taken to hospital for treatment.

Dr. Jones told JIS News that the student’s death brings into sharp focus the dangers children face while travelling on the roadways.

“We are doing better than last year, 11 per cent down from last year, but we are not doing well in respect of the mandate to cut the number of fatalities on our roads by 50 per cent by 2030, as mandated by the United Nations and the World Health Organisation,” he explained.

Dr. Jones emphasised that children must be trained to cross the roads properly.

“They have to look in both directions when they’re crossing the road and they have to take a third look again. We have to drum it into their heads at school and in the home,” he said.

He urged drivers to desist from speeding in built-up areas, noting that there is a worldwide effort to reduce the speed limit in those areas to 30 kilometres per hour.

“This has been shown to be the kind of speed that if you get hit, you have a chance. Above that, you have very little chance of survival. We need to make sure that we have the funds to carry out public education to teach our people how to use the roads. We need funds from both the private sector and from the Government,” Dr. Jones told JIS News.

Meanwhile, he appealed for further integration of technology on roadways in the form of cameras, so that traffic offenders can be detected and ticketed.

He reasoned that road safety must be a priority for all Jamaicans, as it is the second leading cause of violent deaths locally.

“It is a tremendous drain in terms of injuries on the health sector, and we continue to make the point that road safety is now part of the United Nations development goals and, therefore, we are stymieing our country in terms of development and even GDP (gross domestic product), if we continue to lose lives,” Dr. Jones said.

“So, yes we are doing better, but we can and we have to do much better than this. Our children’s lives are at stake and the nation suffers when a child dies,” he added.