Gov’t to Intensify the National Road Safety Public Education Campaign

The Government will be intensifying the national public education campaign on the rules of the road, to reduce the high incidence of motor-vehicle accidents and deaths.

Making the announcement following Thursday’s (May 16) meeting of the National Road Safety Council (NRSC), Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, said the campaign will be funded by revenues generated from increased traffic ticket fines.

“So, we already have several public education campaigns ongoing. I know the OPM (Office of the Prime Minister) has sponsored, I know the National Road Safety Council has sponsored, but we see the need for an intensification of the public education,” he said.

Mr. Holness, who chairs the Council, emphasised that the campaign is critical in light of the more than 600,000 vehicles on the nation’s roads.

“We recognise the need [as] there is this shift, not just in the number of vehicles but also in the roadways. We have built several hundred miles of new roadways and new driving surfaces that some people are just not trained and don’t have the driving culture to operate vehicles on. So, the public education campaign has to be developed that will focus on the driving culture which has safety as its key element,” he said.

Mr. Holness further advised that the Council will be reviewing the threshold of alcohol in one’s system to capture more persons driving under the influence.

“That is something that we have decided to take a second look at. Other countries are moving towards reducing the threshold and our threshold is at international standards, but at the higher end. I think we should go down to a lower end and, that way, we would be able to capture more persons… who are driving under the influence,” he said, adding that the need to increase breathalyser testing was also discussed.

Mr. Holness indicated that the ticketing system will be formally and fully rolled out in June.

“We reviewed the ticketing system and I think the country would be pleased to know that we now have a very modern ticketing system, which is not only good for traffic enforcement but for all kinds of public order issues.

The system now enables the effective suspension of licences both through the court system and automatically through an accumulation of points,” he said.

Mr. Holness added that that system is expected to have an impact on driver behaviour.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister announced that 2,000 helmets have been procured for distribution to motorcyclists.

He said the helmets, which were acquired through the Ministry of National Security, will be made available to the National Road Safety Council for distribution islandwide.

“That will continue over the next few years until we have a helmet for every rider in Jamaica… that’s the intention. So there would be no reason, no excuse for not wearing a helmet. Helmets save lives,” he stated.

The proposed distribution of the helmets was announced by the Prime Minister during his 2024/25 Budget Debate presentation.

Mr. Holness urged motorists to obey the rules of the roads, avoid distractions, refrain from using cellphones while driving and traverse within stipulated speed limits.

He pointed out that speeding and driver distraction have been the main cause of accidents on the nation’s roads.

Prime Minister Holness pointed out that the Council’s members “had a good meeting [on Thursday], and I think the efforts we are making will have a positive impact on reducing the number of road fatalities”.