Thu | Dec 25, 2025

FATAL CRASH RED ALERT

Surge in road deaths propelling Jamaica to exceed 400-fatality mark

Published:Thursday | July 24, 2025 | 12:07 AMLivern Barrett/Senior Staff Reporter
Contributed
The police were up to last evening seeking to identify three people who were killed in a motor vehicle crash along the Queen’s Highway near Discovery Bay, St Ann, yesterday. The Gleaner understands that the accident occurred around 11:30 a.m. and involved a Honda Stepwagon bus and a Mitsubishi motor truck heading in opposite directions. Persons from both vehicles were rushed to the hospital where it later emerged that there were three fatalities, one of which was the driver of the Honda.

The country's main road safety advocate group has sounded a “red alert” as the gains made over the first five months of this year in containing the number of fatalities on the roadways have now been wiped out.

Up to the end of the first half of 2025, the number of people killed in motor vehicle crashes was down four per cent, while the number of fatal collisions was down seven per cent year-on-year, according to official police data.

At the end of the first week in March this year, road deaths were down 18 per cent, while the number of deadly collisions was down 14 per cent when compared with the corresponding period last year.

However, a surge in road deaths over the last two months has turned those gains into a three per cent increase year-on-year, placing Jamaica on a path to again surpass 400 road fatalities in a calendar year, experts have warned.

A total of 365 people were killed on Jamaica's roadways last year, the first time since 2019 that the country had recorded less than 400 road deaths.

Thirty-four people died in 29 fatal crashes in June, while 30 fatalities were recorded in 21 deadly collisions up to July 23, according to the latest data published by the Island Traffic Authority (ITA).

A total of 219 people – 186 males and 33 females – have died in 190 fatal crashes between January 1 and July 23 this year, the ITA data revealed.

Eighty-seven, or 39 per cent, were males between ages 20 and 39, the data showed.

DISAPPOINTING

“Not just the police but the entire Jamaica needs to be on red alert to save lives,” Dr Lucien Jones, vice-chairman of the National Road Safety Council (NRSC), warned yesterday.

He described the turnaround as “disappointing”, but said he was not surprised.

Jones said he thought Jamaica had “turned the corner” more than two years after the introduction of the upgraded Road Traffic Act, which provides significantly higher penalties for traffic offences.

“But clearly, all the reporting in the media has subsided, and so drivers and pedestrians are returning to the previous bad habits of making poor decisions,” the NRSC vice-chairman told The Gleaner.

More than one road death was recorded on nine different days over the past 30 days, Jones revealed, citing data compiled by Dr Parris Lyew Ayee, former head of the Mona GoeInformatics Institute.

There were 12 days when no deaths were recorded.

“The projection [is] heading towards 400 again, but will definitely surpass last year's total unless something drastic happens,” the NRSC vice-chairman said.

SPEED LEADING CAUSE

Speeding remains the leading cause of motor vehicle crashes, accounting for 64 collisions, up from 51 for the comparative period last year. Failing to keep to the proper traffic lane is next, causing 41 crashes.

Overtaking improperly (23) and pedestrians walking or standing in the roadway (17) rounded out the top four causes of fatal crashes.

A total of 60 motorcyclists – down from 67 last year – have died in crashes so far this year, accounting for 27 per cent or the largest category of road users to die on Jamaica's roadways, a breakdown of the ITA data has revealed.

Private motor vehicle drivers and pedestrians accounted for 20 per cent and 19 per cent, respectively, of total road deaths this year.

livern.barrett@gleanerjm.com