Jamaica Praised For Progress Made In Reducing Road Accidents

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina CMC – President of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Luis Alberto Moreno, has praised Jamaica for the progress it has made in reducing road accidents in recent years.

Moreno said that the Washington-based bank is committed to road safety and announced that it would be given priority treatment in all IDB-financed transportation projects.

Moreno also announced a two-year extension of the IDB financial support for Latin NCAP in which the Bank participates with the International Automobile Federation (FIA) and other agencies to improve the safety of cars manufactured or sold in Latin America.

Moreno, along with FIA president Jean Todt participated in a forum “Toward Safe Road Behaviour” that was organized within the framework of the United Nations’ Decade of Action for Road Safety.

In his presentation, Moreno outlined the IDB’s efforts in the field of road safety at the global, regional, and country levels, noting that action “can quickly yield results in lower mortality rates for road accidents.”

He stressed that “fortunately we have a remedy to curb road accidents” and that “some countries in our region are achieving remarkable results,” although “they are not necessarily the richest countries or the ones with the largest public budgets.”

In this sense, he praised Argentina and Jamaica for the progress they have made in recent years in reducing road accidents.

Meanwhile, the National Road Safety Council (NRSC) and the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) Traffic Division have called on the public to exercise greater care and caution on the road during the Emancipation-Independence weekend in a bid to stem the hike in road deaths and injuries.

“Our focus for the holidays as it relates to speed and spot checks will be informed by our monitoring of celebration activities venues. Therefore, what we have done is to map all the main routes leading to festive events and will set up speed and spot checks along these routes,” said Deputy Superintendent Gary McKenzie.

He said the police would maintain a no nonsense approach to violations such as careless and dangerous driving as well as improper overtaking and that the police will “be relentless in the issuance of traffic tickets as we believe, based on our success in 2012, that reducing crashes also depends on consistency in prosecuting drivers for traffic offences, especially for excessive speeding”.

He said the police will be clamping down on motorists who drink alcohol and drive and that 18 out of 20 Breathalyzer Centres have been activated.

NRSC executive director Paula Fletcher, urged motorists who will be attending parties that they should not be consuming alcohol.

“Alcohol impairs your judgement and mental faculties, so you must have a designated driver who does not drink alcohol, if you plan to drink during any parties you attend this holiday, or at any other time. Having a designated driver is the way in which you can have fun in a responsible way.”

Figures released here show that road fatalities and road crashes have increased by five and 12 percent respectively during January 1 to August 2, 2013, in comparison to the same period last year.

Road deaths increased from 152 to 160 for the 2013 period, while fatal crashes jumped from 130 to 146.