Traffic deaths could pass 300 by end of September - Hare
Published:Monday | August 24, 2020 | 12:00 AM
Albert Ferguson, Gleaner Writer
Kenute Hare, director of the Road Safety Unit in the Ministry of Transport, says road fatalities could catapult pass 300 deaths in a month's time unless motorists improve the quality of their driving by following the various guidelines.
“Under the new Road Traffic Act, driving instructors and driving schools will be required to be registered and certified, but we are not going to sit and wait. We are providing the information to the people - some 250 dead already - and we are looking down the barrel. By the end of September, we could have over 300 deaths,” Hare told The Gleaner.
"We need our driving instructors to teach the people properly. Anybody who says they are going to take it upon themselves to drive, they need to know how to operate on the road first," added Hare.
According to Hare, there are too many people driving on the nation’s roadways who lack the requisite knowledge of how to operate their vehicles.
"It is because of that why the Road Safety Unit has decided that we are going to put information out there on the World Wide Web. If you visit the Road Safety Unit YouTube channel, you are going to see everything that you need to know about the road and your vehicle," said Hare.
He disclosed that between July 1 and last week, 14 instructional videos have been posted on the channel.
"All matters that your instructor should teach you,” said Hare, in explaining the content on the videos.
"The instructor is supposed to teach you about tyres. The tyres are the only part of the vehicle that touches the road, so you need to know about them."
Hare said that when learning to drive, potential road users should take the time to learn the difference between a safe vehicle and an unsafe vehicle.
“You are supposed to know these things,” Hare said.
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