Road Safety: Carnage on Jamaica highways
Road safety is a huge problem on the Jamaican highways. Too many selfish drivers with bad driving habits who lack a fair understanding of the Road Code are driving. Most of the accidents are caused by speeding, poor judgment, and careless driving. It is high time the government institute Driver Education courses for commercial vehicle operators and public passenger vehicle operators. Private vehicle operators should be mandated to take a driver education course on the number of traffic violations.
The death toll from Monday’s two-vehicle collision along the Bluefields Main Road in Westmoreland has risen to five.
The traffic accident involved a Toyota Noah taxi and a truck.
Three of the passengers in the Toyota Noah taxi died at the scene, while two succumbed to their injuries in the hospital.
According to an eyewitness report, the deadly accident occurred at about 3:30 p.m., along the Bluefields Main Road in Westmoreland, when the driver of the taxi attempted to overtake a line of traffic and collided with an oncoming truck.
The taxi then ran off the road into bushes, hitting a tree.
Head of the Westmoreland Police, Senior Superintendent Wayne Josephs, told the media that four females and a male who were in the taxi were among the victims.
They included “a mother and her son, and another mother and her daughter,” he said.
The police have launched a search for the driver of the taxi involved in the fatal crash after he reportedly fled the scene after the crash.
Vice Chair of the National Road Safety Council, Dr Lucien Jones, has characterized the five deaths in the Bluefields crash as devastating.
He said that despite making some progress, the government must redouble its efforts to ensure the Safe Systems approach gets fully implemented.