KINGSTON, Jamaica — While some families enjoyed the festivities that are customary with the Christmas season, relatives of at least seven people were plunged into mourning after their loved ones lost their lives on the nation’s roads.

From Christmas Eve on December 24 to December 26, at least seven people died as a result of injuries they received in road crashes, according to information from the police’s Corporate Communications Unit (CCU) over the period.

“The month of December has been an unkind month,” head of the Police Traffic Division Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Calvin Allen told OBSERVER ONLINE on Tuesday. “It is a month that I love, especially from the perspective of Christmas, but it has been an unkind month with regards to road crashes.”

He explained that for this very reason, stakeholders such as the National Road Safety Council and Road Safety Unit turned up the tempo with its public education campaign, reminding road users of the dangers of the road as well as how to operate in order to save and protect their lives and that of family members.

On Christmas Eve, 38-year-old Nesbeth Fowler of Somerhill, St James, and 45-year-old Donovan Thompson of Benin Road, Browns Town, St Ann, died in separate incidents.

Fowler succumbed to injuries he received along Struie Road, Bethel Town, Westmoreland, when he was hit by a Toyota Hiace minibus as he attempted to cross the roadway. Thompson was driving his Toyota Wish motor vehicle on the Pear Tree main road in St Ann, when he reportedly collided with a motor truck.

Then on Christmas Day, 26-year-old Joel Reid of Mount Salem, St James; 54-year-old Lawrence Tracey of Old Pera in St Thomas; and 76-year-old Rupert Grant of Bucknor, Clarendon, lost their lives.

Reid was driving his Toyota Fielder motor car in St James when it’s alleged that he lost control and crashed into a wall. Tracey died after his motorcycle reportedly collided with a Nissan motor car that had allegedly got out of control on the Bowden main road in St Thomas.

Grant was driving a Toyota Wish motor car on Rectory Road, May Pen in Clarendon, when he reportedly lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a concrete post.

Then on Saturday, while many were still indulging in the festivities, a man known only as ‘Scratchy’ of Duncans, Trelawny, and 20-year-old Jevaughnie Martin of Waterworks, Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland, were involved in motor vehicle crashes.

Scratchy was reportedly walking along the Spring Hill main road in Trelawny, when he was hit by a Subaru motor vehicle, while Martin died after he was involved in a collision with a Jamaica Defence Force service vehicle on the Waterworks main road in Westmoreland.

Ahead of New Year’s Day tomorrow, SSP Allen appealed to all road users to stay within the prescribed limits of the Road Traffic Act.

“Excessive speeding, improper overtaking and drivers failing to keep left are some of the factors that have caused most of our crashes,” SSP Allen noted. “I am appealing to all of our road users to drive within the prescribed speed limit, utilise your mirrors wisely and efficiently, so that when switching lanes or deciding to overtake, you will do that in a proper and safe manner, and by doing so protect your life and that of other road users.”

Anika Richards