THE Jamaica Automobile Association (JAA) on Friday launched a new road safety campaign, ‘Think Before You Drive’, to promote ‘proper driving etiquette’.

Allan Beckford, general manager of the JAA, said the campaign will be highlighting four simple rules:

. wearing of seatbelts;

. proper adjustment of the head restraint;

. use of a child seat; and

. regular checking of tyre pressure.

“We are launching this latest initiative to reduce the carnage on our nation’s roads at a time when thick gloom of sadness hangs in the air,” said Beckford, referring to the five fatalities from Thursday’s accident on Highway 2000.

Nine persons were also injured when a speeding, overcrowded minibus blew a rear tyre.

The Toll Authority has said that 30 per cent of all accidents on the highway are the result of faulty tyres, JAA chairman Earl Jarrett said.

“This statistic is startling and must be addressed with all urgency,” said Jarrett.

The JAA will distribute 200,000 tyre pressure gauges to drivers across the island during the campaign.

Transport minister Robert Pickersgill, who represented Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller at the launch, urged a redoubling of efforts “to stop the carnage on our roads and save lives.”

“The public sector spends approximately $500 million each year to care for those who are injured in crashes,” he said.

“Hospital costs may also include time spent in the intensive care unit, which is very expensive,” Pickersgill added.

Statistics show that since 2001, there has been 809 road fatalities in Jamaica, and for the past 15 years, the gender breakdown of the fatalities showed that 81 per cent of those killed were males and 19 per cent females. Children and the elderly have accounted for about 30 per cent of all road fatalities in the last five years.

In the first quarter of 2005, Jamaica had 115 reported cases of fatal accidents and 130 deaths – for the full calendar year there were some 300 deaths.

Comparatively, statistics from the Road Safety Council for the first quarter of 2006, have shown a sharp increase in accidents and resulting fatalities.

Since January, there have been 117 fatal accidents and 136 deaths, including Thursday’s crash.

Pickersgill cited a World Bank report that projects road fatalities would increase by more than 65 per cent between 2000 and 2020, and were the second leading cause of premature death and illness worldwide, behind HIV/AIDS.