Jamaican:Road deaths now six per cent above corresponding period
According to statistics released by the road authorities, 350 people have died in motor vehicle crashes so far.
Some 124 motorcyclists are among the fatalities.
Seventy pedestrians, 63 private motorcar drivers and 26 children were also killed.
The National Road Safety Council (NRSC) and other stakeholders have been pushing to bring road deaths below 300 annually.
Last year, 432 people died on Jamaica's roadways.
Vice-chairman of the NRSC, Dr Lucien Jones, says the 350 road fatalities so far this year is of “deep concern”.
“This is a major issue because we had hoped, based on the number of deaths last year…that we could have worked together with the government and other stakeholders to manage to reduce the figure to 350 or less this year,” said Jones.
There were 106 road deaths in the first quarter of this year, including 40 in February.
In the second quarter, there were 133 fatalities, with 50 in May.
So far in the third quarter, there have been 111 road fatalities, with 47 in July.
At the start of this year, Jones said things were going relatively well as the first quarter figure showed a reduction from the 120 road deaths recorded for the comparative period last year.
“And then disaster happened,” he said, referring to the second-quarter figure, which ballooned from 77 over the corresponding period last year.
Jones said the third-quarter figure is an indication that things have returned to normal "in a sense”.
There were 134 road deaths in the third quarter of last year.
“It means that we will have to make a concerted effort in the last quarter to ensure that we don't exceed the 432 that died last year,” Jones said.
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