Road safety needs to be prioritised - PSOJ

Amid rising traffic fatalities, the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) Public Safety Monitoring Committee is calling for the Government to respond swiftly with fully enacting the Road Traffic Act.

The PSOJ said that this renewed call follows the report provided by the Ministry of National Security for the period ending September 2021 which revealed an upward trajectory in the number of road traffic collisions and fatalities.

There was an alarming eight per cent increase in road fatalities with 356 recorded, when compared to the corresponding period in 2020, which recorded 331 fatalities, it was outlined.

This figure, the PSOJ said, results in the milestone of a “15% reduction in road traffic collision and fatalities through strict enforcement of traffic laws” being completely off track.

The PSOJ said it firmly believes the Road Traffic Act is a key legislative component in achieving the overall objective of public safety and order.

The PSOJ continues its call for the Ministry of Transport and Mining for the formal inclusion of the enabling of the Road Traffic Act as a monitored process within the MOU, even as it noted the failure to meet the targets to reduce road fatalities this year.

The various targets by the Road Safety Council chaired by Prime Minister Andrew Holness have been frustrated by the failure to conclude the regulations and have them passed in the Houses of Parliament, the PSOJ asserted.

The organisation argued that the government has been capable of prioritising items on the legislative agenda with urgency – and it believes that it is duty-bound to take decisive action to curb the lawlessness displayed on the nation's roads.

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