Make defensive driving training mandatory for getting a licence, says taxi group official

FREDRICK BRYAN, general secretary of the National Council of Taxi Association of Jamaica, has charged that defensive driving be among the prerequisites to attain a driver’s licence.

Bryan was speaking at a recent road safety awareness training for school crossing wardens in Clarendon and Manchester.

The event was held at Jamalco Sports Club in Hayes, Clarendon.

“Defensive driving should be part of the prerequisite for obtaining a driver’s licence. I have been through several defensive driving courses and workshops which have surely helped me with my inner discipline to navigate manoeuvring these treacherous roads,” said Bryan.

Jamalco’s Road Safety Programme was founded in 2010, geared towards reducing road crashes in the company’s operating areas in Clarendon and Manchester. The programme includes the sponsorship of school crossing wardens at some nine schools, including Annunciation Basic, Mitchell Town Primary, York Town Primary, Brixton Hill Primary, and Mocho Primary and Infant School in Clarendon, and Campbell’s Castle All-Age, Prattville Primary and St Jago Primary in Manchester.

TRUE REFLECTION

Up to June 9, some 176 civilians have died in road crashes islandwide. The figure is 46 less fatalities compared to 222 over the corresponding period last year, and 36 less compared to that of 2021.

According to Bryan, who is also the president of the Vere Taxi Association in southeastern Clarendon, since the staging of one such defensive driving programme at Jamalco, there had been no road crash fatalities along the corridor.

Bryan commended Jamalco on that initiative, as well as the ongoing school wardens programme, citing the ventures as true reflections of the company’s corporate social responsibility.

“I am sure it has saved many young lives. This is a vision that needs to be replicated islandwide,” Bryan added of the school crossing wardens initiative.

Up to June 9, a total of five children had died in road crashes. For the corresponding period last year, a total of 10 children perished in collisions – five of them being pedestrians. Eleven children suffered a similar fate up to June 9 in 2021. Another five of that figure were pedestrians.

Speaking on the importance of safe driving, Bryan said road fatalities often disrupt families and the economy.

“The issue of collisions have serious implications. Road [crashes] change lives. Sometimes it removes the breadwinner, and you don’t get over those injuries ... you live with them till death,” said Bryan.

Paula Fletcher, executive director of the National Road Safety Council (NRSC), had similar sentiments, citing road fatalities as a loss to the nation.

“That child who died along the roadway could have been the next prime minister, the next engineer. How many persons have we lost that could have benefited our development?” questioned Fletcher, who said NRSC is mandated to save lives.

Novelette Williams, the warden at Annunciation Basic in Hayes, told The Gleaner that her presence at the school is “well needed”. She shared that she started working at the institution in 2009, a year after a child was hit while crossing the road.

“It’s a good thing I am here now, because even the other day, a child just came out the school and run across the road. Mi haffi just grab him by him neck and pull him back,” said Williams.

Describing the initiative as a priority, Austin Mooney, Jamalco’s managing director, said despite the 2021 fire that ravaged the plant and disrupted production, Jamalco remains committed to children’s safety. Mooney said the company decided not to cut the funding for the school wardens programme, but rather decided to increase the daily stipend for wardens, and will be providing additional gear come September.

Sergeant Craig Bonito of the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s Road Safety Unit led a presentation geared towards educating wardens on how to effectively carry out their functions, including the use of proper hand and whistle signals, and how to write a report on an incident.

olivia.brown@gleanerjm.com