Traffic Division Seeking To Implement Education Programme

The Police Traffic Division is calling for the assistance of corporate Jamaica in implementing an education programme to encourage proper road use, which will be targeted at persons in the 19 to 35 age group.
This in light of statistics from the World Health Organization, which indicates a possible 80 per cent increase of traffic fatalities in the developing world, of which Jamaica is a part, by 2020.
“We want to develop a programme this year that is aimed at sixth formers and university students so that we can enlighten them on some of the dos and don’ts of the road,” said Head of the Traffic Division, Senior Superintendent Elan Powell.
He noted that young persons were being targeted because, “when you look at the data, the 19-35 age group is the most threatened age group. It is the group most at risk and because of that I want to have a programme targeting these key persons.”
He appealed to corporate Jamaica and anybody who would want to be a part of this programme, to “come on board and let us work together in developing a programme for these persons.” “What we would want to do is enlighten them on the proper way to use the roads and bring forcefully to their minds, the international problem we have with motor vehicle collisions,” Superintendent Powell explained.
He said that the World Bank indicates that if action is not taken now, by 2020, there will be an overall increase of 65 per cent in fatalities in the world. “It is against this background”, he said, “that we have to seek to implement this programme”. “We cannot be shortsighted. We have to look down the road and start planning because it will be catastrophic if we get to the stage where that would materialize, because you can imagine the number of persons that would be killed”, he stated. “Right now, we kill an average of over 300 persons per year and the truth is that it is only a part of the problem, because there is a bigger part with the number of persons who are left incapacitated by motor vehicle accidents. It is causing significant strain on our health service and families across Jamaica,” he lamented. Among other things, the education programme will feature the use of CDs, brochures and presentations in the schools.
“It’s a programme that I really want to get help in developing because we really need to target that [19-35] group in whatever way we can. It’s urgent,” he emphasized.