Transport Ministry Undertakes Measures to Reduce Road Crashes

State Minister for Transport, Works and Housing, Hon. Richard Azan, said a number of measures are to be implemented to reduce road crashes.

He said the measures, which include installing more speed signs, increasing police presence on the streets, and undertaking micro-surfacing of roads, were decided on during a meeting held with stakeholders.

Mr. Azan was speaking at a press conference at the Royalton White Sands Resort in Trelawny on Wednesday, March 18, following a visit to the site of a motor vehicle crash along the Braco section of the North Coast Highway on March 2, which claimed the lives of four foreign nationals.

He said that while the Braco crash received special mention during the meeting, the general agreement was that there are a number of other areas across the island, which are deemed accident “hot spots” and must be given attention.

“The major thing is that we all agree that most of the accidents that are taking place are because of speeding and reckless driving…out of the meeting, we agreed that we will be putting up some signs across the island, identifying all the hotspots. The police will be doing enforcement and there are areas where we might have to put in some micro-surfacing because we may have skidding,” the State Minister said.

He informed that the Road Maintenance Fund (RMF) will be providing the money for the micro-surfacing work, which will be undertaken in conjunction with the National Works Agency (NWA), and the Mines Division.

Mr. Azan noted that the material for the micro-surfacing has already been purchased and is being shipped to Jamaica.

He added that speed count-down signs will also be erected across the island to alert motorists of the speed limit, which should encourage them to reduce their speed.

Minister Azan said it was also agreed that members of the Police Traffic Department will be out in full force to monitor the flow of traffic across the island to ensure that motorists are compliant.

He informed that the Ministry is working along with the private sector “to make sure that we are able to finance all of this.”