Hot-spot warnings make impact

Sheldon Williams, Gleaner Writer

Since July last year, crash hot- spot warning signs have been placed islandwide in areas where many crashes happen. They are part of the Arrive Alive Road Safety campaign, funded by JN General Insurance Company (JNGI).

The warnings seem to be working.

Chris Hind, general manager of JNGI, told Automotives that while specific data on their effectiveness is still outstanding, the warning signs are definitely producing favourable results.

"Issues with the currency of the national database, which inform crash statistics, preclude an up-to-date analysis of road crashes at this time. However, steps are certainly being taken in the right direction, evidenced by the record low road fatalities last year. Efforts by the National Road Safety Unit, one of our partners in our 'Arrive Alive' initiative, should be commended," Hind said.

"The psychological impact of the signs should, however, not be discounted. A driver who sees the sign is immediately aware that the particular section of roadway is accident-prone and may subconsciously cut their speed. That fractional decrease in speed may prove to be the difference between that driver becoming a statistic or arriving alive at their destination," he added.

Priority Areas

Hind emphasised that, complementing the warning signs, the messages have also been printed on billboards across the island. He also highlighted that the efforts have been balanced between the Kingston and St Andrew Metropolitan region and rural areas.

"At the moment there are 35 outdoor spots (22 crash hot-spot warning signs and 13 billboards) across the island. The breakdown is roughly 50 per cent in KSA and 50 per cent out of town. Notable roadways, on which signs and/or billboards have been erected, include Constant Spring Road in St Andrew, the section of the North Coast Highway passing through Runaway Bay in St Ann and Mandela Highway in St Catherine," Hind said.

The crash hot spots were identified based on a study conducted by Dr Parris Lyew-Ayee and his team at the Mona GeoInformatics Institute, commissioned by JNGI and the JN Foundation.

"Data from the JCF's Traffic Division, related to road crashes for the period 2000 to 2010, was spatially mapped (approximately 70,000 crash data points) and from the results we were able to identify the priority areas in terms of crashes and/or fatalities. So, for example, Constant Spring Road was found to have had the most crashes over the period with 906, while the section of the North Coast Highway passing through Runaway Bay had the most fatalities with 65, Mandela Highway following closely behind with 52," Hind explained.

JCF Patrols coming

He anticipates tangible results. "We expect to see some decrease in the number of crashes and fatal crashes experienced on these roadways going forward, especially in light of the downward trend in road fatalities last year," Hind emphasised.

Hind told Automotives that his company felt motivated to participate in the project as road safety concern is a social responsibility. He also pointed out that the Ministry of Transport, Works and Housing (MTWH)support has been a key factor in the successful rolling out of the campaign so far and commenced with the signing of an Memorandum of Understanding at the launch of the campaign in May 2012".

The company is not stopping at the warning signs. "As part of the campaign we will be handing over four bikes to the JCF to be used to patrol select roadways with particularly bad crash hot spots. This handover is expected to happen in March. As part of the campaign we sponsored a documentary called 'Arrive Alive - Decoding Dangerous Roads'. This aired on TVJ on February 17th. The documentary as well as the study conducted by Dr Lyew-Ayee can be viewed on jngijamaica.com," Hind said.

"Every two weeks a new roadway is featured in the press giving details on its status as a crash hot-spot. Eight of these roadways have been featured since November 2012," Hind emphasised.

Kenute Hare, director of the Road Safety Unit, MTWH, told Automotives that the data collected on the hot-spots is still being entered into a database and full results will not be available until June.

"It's not just playing with numbers. It's not an easy thing. It's a lot of variables to be considered. It's not just numbers alone. The methodology has to be right," Hare said.