Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

Left: Senior Superintendent of Police, Ealan Powell.   Right: Patrick Rose, director, National Works Agency. - Photos by Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer

ROADS saturated by heavy rains and overburdened motor vehicles, are contributing to an increase in auto accidents and fatalities in Jamaica, says Patrick Rose, director of research and planning at the National Works Agency (NWA).

Mr. Rose made this observation yesterday during a Gleaner Editors' Forum at the newspaper's North Street offices in central Kingston.

He said that although the government agency launched a road improvement programme four years ago, many major thoroughfares are still not safe.

"The bulk of our main roads, which number about 5,000 kilometres which the NWA is in charge of, 70 per cent of it is in bad condition," Mr. Rose revealed.

He said his organisation was aware of the accident-prone roads. But he stated that several factors have prevented the NWA from making them safer.

Flooding main problem

"Flooding is our main problem, and another one is the degree of overloaded vehicles. These are the two main threats to us carrying our main road network up to an acceptable level."

Mr. Rose said the NWA had renovated 800 kilometres of these roads through its road improvement programme which was launched in 2002.

He added that the NWA plans to embark on a fresh phase of road improvements before year end.

Senior Superintendent Ealan Powell, head of the Police's Traffic Division, pointed out that poor surfaces have made driving in Jamaica even more challenging.

"I want to focus on just one piece of road," he said. "Since year we have seen 16 deaths on the road between Ocho Rios and Runaway Bay. That road has since been resurfaced, so obviously there is something wrong with the construction."

Robert Evans, an engineer and principal at Technical Enterprises Ltd., has worked in civil and road works for over 30 years. He said many roads in Jamaica deteriorate quickly because they were not properly funded.

"Our problem in Jamaica is that the need for roads is not supported by money," he told The Gleaner. "Engineers are criticised, but this should not be. When we design something and say it costs $10 million, we are lucky if we get half of that. Insufficient funds is our dilemma," he said.

According to statistics from the Police Traffic Division, up to September 20, 246 persons have died in traffic accidents in Jamaica this year.

At the same time in 2005, there were 218 fatalities due to accidents on the road.