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Pedestrian Crossings Repainted Under New Initiative

June 25, 2009

The Full Story

Close to 100 members of the Portmore, Rockfort and Spanish Town Jamaica Urban Transit Company’s (JUTC’s) depots and officials of the Ministry of Transport and Works, including Minister Mike Henry, turned up at various Kingston and St. Catherine locations on June 21 to participate in the ‘Just Use the Crossings’ initiative.
Under this initiative, formed from the acronym, JUTC, eight pedestrian crossings in the Kingston Metropolitan Transport Region (KMTR) were freshly repainted as part of the organisation’s contribution to Road Safety Month 2009, which ends on June 30.
The school crossings at the Portmore Heart Academy and the Ascot High School in Portmore, the Excelsior and Vauxhall High Schools on Mountain View Avenue and Windward Roads, respectively, the Jamaica Society for the Blind in Liguanea, and the St. Peter Claver School, Waltham Park Road, all received a fresh coating. The Spanish Town Prison Oval and Twickenham Park crossings were also retouched.
Addressing a recent JIS Think Tank, Sales and Marketing Manager at the JUTC, Lenworth Simms, explained that the initiative reflects the overall aim of the JUTC to ensure the safety of pedestrians, many of whom also comprise its customer base.
“The JUTC does not only pride itself on offering a safe mode of transportation, but continues to implement strategies to ensure that commuters are safe,” he said.
“We are concerned that students have to be bundling across the roads, because they (pedestrian crossings) are either pale or not visible enough to motorists,” he added.
Endorsing the initiative, Director of the Road Safety Unit, Kenute Hare, told JIS News that he welcomes every effort to protect pedestrians. “Over 50 per cent of traffic crashes involving pedestrians in 2007, were due to inappropriate use of roadways by pedestrians,” Mr. Hare noted.
“We had over 100 pedestrians killed in traffic crashes over the past 10 years. We believe that if we can continue to promote defensive walking and defensive driving amongst our motorists, we will be able to reduce this rate profoundly,” he added.
The ‘Just Use the Crossings’ initiative is a collaborative effort of the JUTC, the National Works Agency (NWA) and the Road Safety Unit.

Last Updated: August 26, 2013

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