Overloaded trucks blamed for accidents on South Coast Highway, police vow to prosecute offenders

An alarm has been raised about the issue of overloaded trucks spilling gravel, sand, and other sediments on the South Coast Highway in St Thomas, with calls being made for truckers to face stricter penalties.

The situation has been cited as the cause of at least a dozen car accidents that have been reported along the highway recently, as police say motorists continue to lose control of their vehicles while travelling on the road.

The issue has prompted emergency workers to warn unsuspecting motorists, as they demand harsher punishment for disobedient truckers operating in the parish.

The police have vowed to prosecute offending truckers.

To the naked eye, the amount of spilled aggregate on the main road from the Morant Bay roundabout in St Thomas to Bull Bay in St Andrew could fill at least half a truck. In some cases, loads of gravel and sand are strewn on sections of the roadway that appear more difficult to navigate—especially by the often overloaded trucks, police have theorised.

Last week, at least one motor vehicle was seen disabled on a section of the roadway near the Grants Pen community in St Thomas.

Police confirmed that the vehicle was among those which recently spun out of control due to sand on the road, and subsequently slammed repeatedly into the roadway’s median and embankment.

The vehicle appeared totalled, with deployed airbags, shredded tyres, and extensive body damage.

Police say that, as in many cases, there were no serious injuries. Many of the accidents are not reported to the police or to the motorists' insurance companies.

The situation is also a headache for firefighters in the parish, who, in addition to their ongoing response to fires at the Church Corner Waste Disposal Site near Morant Bay, must also respond to accidents and clean up the aggregate from the highway.

"Daily, we have accidents out there, but what happens is that most of the incidents involve only minor damage. So a lot of people don't even bother to come and tell the police that 'Hey, me skid in gravel.' So that is why we don't have the raw data.

"But, based on observation, it is clear that it is the gravel that caused the accident, and the owner of that car you see on the road was one victim," a policeman in Morant Bay told a Gleaner news team.

A policeman posted in Yallahs explained that the stretch from Albion to 14 Mile and 10 Mile in Bull Bay can be a nightmare for motorists, even as officers try their hardest to clamp down on violating truck drivers.

"We try our best, you know. But sometimes they come out in the nights when they know that by certain times we would have come off the road. So most of the time when the overloading and the spillage are happening, we are not on the road," said the senior traffic cop.

"But, rest assured we are going after them, and they will be prosecuted."

- Corey Robinson

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