Shaw concerned over youth road fatalities

The staggering number of children and young adults under the age of 29 being killed on Jamaica’s roads, with a record 488 fatalities reported last year, is putting a serious dent in the nation’s human resource potential and is cause for concern to Minister of Transport and Mining Audley Shaw.

Statistics from the Road Safety Unit show that 170 children and adults under the age of 29 were killed in 145 road crashes last year, with 84 per cent being men and 16 per cent being women. Shaw, who shared these findings during Thursday’s inaugural meeting of the Jamaica Caribbean Youth Network for Road Safety at the University of Technology’s Innovation Centre in Papine, St Andrew, pointed out that motorcyclists accounted for 42 per cent of the deaths in that age cohort.

“The nation lost so many productive persons who had their whole lives ahead of them. More young people aged between 15 and 29 are dying from road crashes (and) this means road crashes are a serious threat to our future, no matter where in the world we reside,” the transport minister pointed out.

He continued: “When we lose these young lives, it is not only the families that suffer but we suffer also as a nation. The pain and grief is a powerful driving force and should help to prevent similar devastation and grief to other families.”

The onus therefore is on every single road user to ensure that he or she is alert, patient and responsible at all times, according to the minister. This, he said, was especially important in light of the data from the Road Safety Unit showing that the main causes of crashes continue to be excessive speeding, drivers failing to keep to the correct side of the roadway and, of note, pedestrian error.

Minister Shaw reminded his audience that Jamaica has been trying, without success for many years, to address the plague of road deaths and injuries and this continues to put the nation under very serious financial and emotional strain, while negatively impacting economic growth. However, now the drive will be given renewed impetus, he promised.

“Rest assured that this ministry, with the support of our partners and stakeholders, remains focused and ready to do what it takes to make our country (safe) for all. The ministry looks forward to the success of the project as we aim to promote behavioural change in our traffic environment.”

The Jamaica Caribbean Youth Network for Road Safety is a regional youth think tank, advocacy and action group with a mandate to design, develop and implement programmes geared towards road safety and reducing road carnage. The aim is to establish a campus-type caucus at all universities, colleges and high schools in the Caribbean.