Transport Minister Appeals to Drivers to Take Care on The Roads This Festive Season

As the festive season approaches, Minister of Transport and Mining, Hon. Robert Montague, is appealing to motorists to be cautious and drive carefully on the roads.

“We are coming up to the Christmas season and I am begging everybody to wear your seat belt; to slow down; and not to use your cellphones when you are driving. I want to see you again in 2020,” he said.

Mr. Montague was speaking at a signing ceremony for a tripartite agreement with Transport Authority, EduFocal Business Limited and the British Caribbean Insurance Company (BCIC), at the Ministry’s office in Kingston on Thursday (November 21).

The agreement relates to online training for Public Passenger Vehicle (PPV) drivers and conductors. 

The software, which is being developed by EduFocal Business Limited and sponsored by BCIC, seeks to provide training in the use of the road code, defensive driving and customer service.

The first module for the software is expected to be completed by the end of next month.

While lamenting the number of funerals he has been attending for road traffic victims, the Minister said that besides the loss of the victim, there is also immense pain and suffering faced by those who are left behind.

“Many children are growing up without their fathers or mothers in the home because they die as a result of a road traffic accident that could have been avoided,” he said.

He mentioned a 12-year-old child in Portland who is now crippled after he was hit by a vehicle.

“A bright, productive student from Titchfield High, top of his class, now crippled in bed because of a traffic accident that could have been avoided. And the parents will now have to maintain that child for the rest of their lives…the wasted man hours, as they will now have to carry him to therapy,” the Minister said.