Jamaica records 40 road deaths so far in July

Forty people have died in motor vehicle crashes so far this month.

It marks the first time this year and all of last year that road fatalities for a single calendar month have hit that figure, police data have revealed.

Victim number 40 is the previously unreported death of a 68-year-old woman who was killed in a two-vehicle collision along Gordon Town Road, in St Andrew, on Saturday.

It was listed in the daily fatal collision report published by the police's Public Safety and Traffic Enforcement Branch on Wednesday. Her name and details of the 10:50 a.m. crash were not released by the police.

“July 2025 has now joined the infamous 40 and over club,” vice-chairman of the National Road Safety Council Dr Lucien Jones lamented.

“Last year when we dropped to 365 [road deaths] from 424 the year before we had none,” he noted.

The motor vehicle death toll for July marks the tenth time since 2010 that Jamaica has recorded 40 or more road fatalities in a month.

The 58 road deaths recorded in December 2021 remains the highest for a month followed by 53 recorded in November 2022, according to official data.

The 40 road deaths so far this month and the 34 recorded last month have wiped out the gains made up to the first week of March this year when there was an 18 per cent reduction in fatalities.

A total of 229 people have died on the roadways this year, a three per cent increase when compared with the corresponding period last year.

- Livern Barrett

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