PPV Operators Called On To Help Make Roads Safer

Minister of Transport and Mining, Hon. Audley Shaw, is calling on operators in the public transport sector to ensure that the system works in the best interest of all road users.

Minister Shaw, who delivered the keynote address at a certification membership ceremony organised by the Transport Operators Development Sustainable Services (TODDS) on Thursday (February 3), at the University of Technology (Utech), said public passenger vehicle operators are “responsible for the county’s most precious resource – our citizens, including our children, and the elderly”.

“This responsibility must be held with the highest regard, and since the start of the year, an alarming 38 persons have been killed in 32 fatal crashes, with PPV operators and passengers accounting for three of those fatalities,” Mr. Shaw said.

Underscoring that too many deaths are occurring on the roads, he said the operators must move to be identified among the “safest drivers in the country” and the Ministry will continue to work with all road-safety partners to make the subject a priority.

“It is the responsibility of each of us, and we seek to have the entire population on our road-safety side as we work to ensure that whenever we operate on the road network, we do so for our families and our country first,” the Minister said. He added that the country’s road safety architecture is being improved to ensure that by 2030, Jamaica will become the “road-safety capital of the Caribbean and Latin American region”.

Minister Shaw told the gathering that he was pleased that the New Road Traffic rules have been tabled in Parliament, and “we will be working rigorously” to ensure that it is enforced, to support the “desperate need” to better regulate the use of the nation’s roads.

“This is one of my priorities,” Minister Shaw said.

The Minister highlighted that the Transport Authority (TA) has rolled out several digital training, monitoring and enforcement mechanisms, and persons should take advantage of them. He noted that the Drive Safe Jamaica App, a reporting device, allows members of the public to upload videos and pictures of drivers, particularly public transport operators who commit road traffic breaches.