Police checking if alcohol use contributed to Falmouth crash

The police are investigating the possibility that alcohol impairment contributed to Sunday’s fatal accident which triggered vandalisation of the Falmouth Public Hospital in Trelawny.

Dwayne Falconer died while being treated for injuries he sustained in a car crash along the Martha Brae main road.

Later, upset relatives and friends used stones to shatter the glass door to the hospital’s accident and emergency department, injuring some staff members.

Head of the Road Safety Unit in the transport ministry, Kenute Hare, says the authorities are awaiting the conclusion of police investigations.

However, he says there is strong evidence suggesting alcohol played a part in at least two of last weekend’s crashes.

He says the police will also be doing a crash test to determine how fast both vehicles were going when they crashed.

Hare is imploring Jamaicans to use safety devices, such as seatbelts when travelling in motor vehicles.

Pointing to a collision, which claimed the life of a nine-year-old boy in St Mary on Sunday, Hare says there is strong evidence the child was not strapped in.

He says the child would not have been thrown from the vehicle if he was buckled in and would have had a fighting chance of surviving the crash.

Five persons died in motor vehicle crashes in St Ann, Trelawny, St Mary, Kingston and St Catherine on Sunday.

This pushed the number of fatalities to 49 from 48 crashes.