JAA to have motorsport presence

The Jamaica Automobile Association (JAA) has formed a strategic partnership with local motorsports regulatory group, the Jamaica Millennium Motoring Club (JMMC), to promote road safety.

This alliance will result in the JAA being present at all JMMC sprint, local rally and dexterity events listed on the 2012 motor-racing calendar. The JAA will promote the road-safety message articulated by the United Nation's Decade of Action for Road Safety Campaign, which aims to "cut global road fatalities in half, by 2020".

Duane Ellis, general manager of the JAA, said the association and the JMMC are both affiliate members of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), hence this "symbiotic relationship was a natural blending of our core areas of interest, in respect of roadside assistance and motor racing".

He said statistics from the Road Safety Unit in the Ministry of Transport and Works reveal that last year, 303 people lost their lives in 257 road crashes, caused mainly by speeding.

Reducing crashed

"We believe that if we share our resources to educate more persons about the risks of unsafe driving practices, such as speeding and distracted driving, we will be able to achieve a major reduction in road crashes for 2012," Ellis explained.

Dean Corrodus, president of the JMMC, said the partnership stems from the need for "synergy between both organisations, to heighten the awareness of Jamaicans about road safety and the dangers of speeding on the nation's roadways".

"This partnership is an opportunity for us to reach thousands of Jamaicans across the island with road-safety messages," Corrodus said. "And it is our joint civic responsibility to lead public awareness in this area."

Ellis said both organisations will also be partners in a school-based road-safety initiative that will seek to "educate young people about road safety and mobility messages".