'Treat road safety as an investment'

Nedburn Thaffe, Gleaner Writer

As her agency continues its drive to keep fatalities below the 300 mark, executive director of the National Road Safety Council (NRSC), Paula Fletcher, says road-safety promotion needs to be treated as a national investment.

"What we are asking persons to do as a country, and as a private sector, is to treat road safety as an investment," Fletcher said as she addressed patrons during the opening of the Jamaica Driver and Traffic Safety Expo at the Ranny Williams Entertainment Centre on Saturday.

According to the NRSC head, road crashes and fatalities continue to take a heavy toll on the government coffers, wracking up billions of dollars in infrastructural-repair costs and more than $1.7 billion in health-care treatment.

In the meantime, she said while the council is examining a number of measures to reduce road fatalities on a whole, the NRSC is placing renewed focus on protecting the nation's young and vulnerable.

Child fatalities up

Fletcher said the Road Safety Unit was in dialogue with the Ministry of Education to streamline road-safety programmes in schools to strengthen awareness and education.

"Our little children here are begging us to keep them safe and to help them develop, where they can take our place," she said, noting that of the total number of road fatalities each year, 37 per cent are pedestrians, and children account for a quarter of this number.

The Road Safety Unit in the Ministry of Transport and Works has projected that child fatalities would increase by 35 per cent this year.

Additionally, Fletcher said, there are also infrastructural concerns that need to be addressed.

"I don't think (our infrastructure) is pedestrian-friendly, so we need more work in that area," she said.

In the meantime, chairman of the Jamaica Automobile Association and patron of the Road Safety Expo, Earl Jarrett, said road crashes and injuries continue to result in the loss of the island's intellectual and economic resources, causing immeasurable human suffering.

Up to May 6 this year, 131 deaths were recorded. Of this number ,19 were private motor-vehicle passengers, 15 were pedal cyclists, 13 were motorcyclists and 10 were public-passenger vehicle commuters.