PM appeals to citizens to join fight for safer roads
Published:Monday | November 18, 2024 | 12:10 AMTanesha Mundle/Staff Reporter
With 320 lives already lost since the start of the year as a result of road accidents and more than 10,000 persons injured annually, Prime Minister Andrew Holness is appealing to citizens to show greater regard for road safety and work together to make the roads safer.
“Road crashes can and must be prevented. I call on all Jamaicans to actively work to dismantle the apathy and blatant neglect around road safety,” Holness said in his address read by Dr Lucien Jones, vice-chairman of the National Road Safety Council (NRSC).
“We also join with the international community to urge road users to slow down, protect our vulnerable road users, and make a united effort to achieve our road safety milestones,” Holness said.
The prime minister, in his message, read at the Annual NRSC Church Service, in commemoration of World Day of Remembrance for World Traffic Victims, at the Swallowfield Chapel in Kingston, however, emphasised that remembrance alone was not sufficient.
“Let us continue to transform our roads, transform our behaviours, and transform our future to build a Jamaica where our roads lead to beautiful destinations and abundant life,” he said.
He urged Jamaicans to channel the pride they have in the country and its people and use it to move in synergy to have and maintain safer roads.
“Here in Jamaica, while we mourn the lives lost and shattered, today offers the opportunity to channel our grief into a powerful force for transformation,” the prime minister said.
Government and its stakeholders, Holness said, are being compelled by the observation of world traffic victims to confront the devastating scale of road traffic deaths and injuries.
Global crisis
Pointing to the more than 300 lives that have so far been lost in road accidents and the over 10,000 injuries that occur yearly, the prime minister noted that road traffic incidents are the 11th leading cause of death in Jamaica.
Continuing, Holness said while the data is disheartening, fatalities on the island reflect a global crisis where 1.19 million lives are tragically cut short on roadways worldwide.
However, to achieve success in road safety, he said Jamaica must fully embrace the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Safe Systems Approach, which is built upon the need for safe roads, safe vehicles, safe speeds, and effective post-crash care.
He then commended the NRSC, which he said is doing critical work in the promotion of road safety and which has made “instrumental strides” under the United Nations Road Safety Fund Project being implemented with support from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
The project has strengthened the operation of the breathalyser programme, improved speed enforcement, driven public education, fortified emergency trauma care, and improved road safety management and governance.
Added to that, Holness said the Government continued to take a holistic approach to road safety with the new Road Traffic Act, Motorcycle Training Programme, and National Helmet Wearing Coalition.
‘Giant leap’ toward safety
These measures, he said, represent “a giant leap toward a safer transportation system for all Jamaicans, specifically our most vulnerable” including non-motorised road users, such as pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, and persons with disabilities.
While highlighting that around 100 motorcyclists lose their lives in road crashes annually, he shared that the Government has invested $28 million into the acquisition of 2,000 motorcyclist helmets, which are being distributed free of cost to reduce injuries and tragedies among riders, especially young males.
To further accelerate the nation’s progress, Holness said the country is working towards bolstering enforcement, amplifying public education campaigns, and continuing the operationalisation of the new Road Traffic Act, which came into force in February 2023.
“Essentially, the transformation we seek demands that we proactively empower and mobilise Jamaicans to make our vision a reality,” Holness said further.
In the meantime, the prime minister, in offering comfort to the grieving families navigating the repercussions of tragic deaths and injuries, assured them that the Government was standing in solidarity with them.