NRSC chairman calls for urgent action amid deadly Trelawny crash

Chairman of the National Road Safety Council (NRSC), Dr Lucien Jones, has renewed calls for urgent action to stem the rising number of road deaths following Friday morning’s horrific crash in Trelawny that claimed seven lives and left others seriously injured.

Speaking in the aftermath of the collision, Jones said the latest carnage on the nation’s roads pushed up the death toll since the start of the year.

“We are waiting on the details to make any further comment,” Jones said, noting that preliminary police reports indicated that six people had died and two others were badly injured in the crash, which occurred shortly after 8 a.m.

Since then, one more person has succumbed to injuries at hospital.

The crash happened at Bogue Gate in Falmouth and involved a minibus and a motor truck.

At least one of the deceased has been identified so far.

He is 23-year-old Theodore Hudson of Tower Hill.

The NRSC chairman said the deadly collision came just days after the council conducted its mid-year road safety assessment, during which members expressed concern over a sharp increase in road fatalities since June.

“Just Tuesday, we had a mid-year assessment when the National Road Safety Council commented on the improvement in the data from last year, but also noted that since June, we have had a virtual explosion in road fatalities. June and July have been bad months for road fatalities,” he said.

Jones noted that road safety experts had anticipated an increase in crashes during the summer months but said the scale of Friday’s tragedy was unexpected.

“The point was made at the press conference by Dr Parris Lyew-Ayee that, traditionally, analysing the trends, we can forecast that the summer months are going to be terrible. But we never expected this kind of mayhem and carnage on the road in one single crash,” he said.

He argued that the latest tragedy underscores the need for a national response to road safety similar to the coordinated efforts that have contributed to reductions in homicides.

“Unless and until we mobilise the entire nation to deal with the second leading cause of violent deaths in our nation in the same way that we have successfully done so for homicides, the likelihood of this kind of terrible crash and loss of lives in our nation is going to continue,” Jones said.

Expressing condolences to those affected, Jones said the council remained committed to reducing road fatalities.

“We mourn the dead, we mourn the families who have lost their loved ones. We commit ourselves to continue the struggle to deal with this terrible scourge on the nation’s roads. But we have to do all that is possible to make sure that this kind of loss of life does not continue,” he said.

Jones also called for the swift implementation of all outstanding provisions of the Road Traffic Act.

“Every single aspect of the Road Traffic Act needs to be rolled out as quickly as possible so that all the tools that we have, including public education, enforcement at every level, and training and retraining, can be mobilised so that we don’t have this kind of chaos, mayhem and carnage continuing on our roads,” he said.

Police are continuing investigations into the circumstances surrounding the fatal crash.

The victims were reportedly trapped in the wreckage and had to be freed by firefighters from the Falmouth Fire Station before being pronounced dead.

- Andre Williams

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