Safety audits and inspections for all new roads

The Ministry of Transport, Works and Housing has given a new policy directive that all new road projects are to be subjected to rigorous road-safety audits and inspections.

According to Dr Morais Guy, minister without portfolio in the ministry, the policy is being implemented "with a view to ensuring that road safety is fully incorporated in all road projects from the design phase".

Making his contribution to the 2015-16 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, Guy also said safety audits are to be undertaken on new road projects in the island to ensure that the infrastructure being put in place will be beneficial to all road users, particularly the most vulnerable.

Making his contribution to the 2015-16 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives, on Tuesday, he said this will form part of the Ministry's new policy directive and is being done to ensure that road safety is fully incorporated in all road projects from the design phase.

stakeholders trained

In the meantime, the minister said during the 2014-2015 fiscal year, more than 80 road-safety stakeholders, including the Jamaica Defence Force, Jamaica Constabulary Force, National Works Agency, Island Traffic Authority, National Road Safety Council, insurance investigators and ministry personnel were trained in several crucial areas of road safety.

The areas of training included accident investigation and reconstruction, road-safety audit management, defensive driving, driver behaviour, and risk index.

Guy said these road-safety training programmes would enhance Jamaica's road-safety operations, "and it is our hope that once we sustain this expertise, the benefits will be significant".

The minister said that the Caribbean Maritime Institute (CMI) will assume a lead role in these training programmes, adding that the CMI has now positioned itself as the premier accident investigation and reconstruction training institution in the Caribbean.

This fiscal year, according to the minister, the CMI will deliver training in driver behaviour and risk to the driving population in an effort to bring discipline to the traffic environment.