FATAL motor vehicle crashes and road fatalities have declined by 12 and 10 per cent respectively this year, but Kanute Hare, accident analyst at the National Road Safety Council (NRSC), is predicting that road fatalities among the elderly could top last year’s figures by year end if there’s no intervention.

According to Hare, quarterly figures from the National Road Safety Council indicate that 45 elderly persons were killed on the roads last year, and he projects the number to grow to 55 if nothing is done.

Hare, who was speaking during the National Road Safety Council meeting Thursday at the Courtleigh Hotel in Kingston, said of the 161 fatalities and 139 fatal crashes that occurred on the roads since the beginning of the year, 29 of them involved elderly persons. This number, he noted, jumped 32 per cent when compared to last year. The elderly, he said, accounted for 48 per cent of the 44 pedestrians who were killed on the roads since the start this year.

“The elderly is one of the most vulnerable people on the road because they are not able to move as quickly within their environment because their reflexes have slowed down,” Hare told the Observer.

“People should take notice of the elderly and take precautions, or even offer to drive them around,” he advised.

According to NRSC, the number of road fatalities involving children has decreased by 42 per cent compared to last year.

So far, 11 children have been killed in traffic accidents compared to 19 during the same period last year. Forty-six per cent of the children killed belonged to the 10 to 14 age group. Sixty-four per cent were males, while 55 per cent were pedestrians.

Hare also pointed out that more males are dying on the roads compared to women -133 men were killed on the road compared to only 27 women. But the figures also showed a decline of four per cent in male fatalities while female fatalities went down by 31 per cent.

On Thursday, he said the council was also concerned about the increase in passenger fatalities, which accounts for 27 per cent of road fatalities, and showed a 14 per cent increase compared to the same period last year.

“Of those (43) passengers, 34 of them were persons in private motor vehicles,” he said. “We have noted that there was a significant increase of public passengers who have been killed so far this year, however, we have noticed that there have been an increase in the private motor vehicle passengers. I must say that quite a number of these passengers are in the rear of the car. Some were thrown out.”

At the same time, Hare noted that there was still a reluctance among drivers and passengers on the road to wear seat belts. The lack of usage of helmets, he added, was also another concern of the council.

“At least half of these motorcyclist (seven) that died, there was no evidence that they were wearing helmets,” Hare explained.

Meanwhile, most of the fatalities took place during the weekend period, with Friday accounting for the majority of the fatalities ,at 16 per cent. Most of these fatalities, Hare added, occurred in the rural areas.

He also pointed out that the problematic months, were between January and April, with April seeing the most fatalities this year.

“Previous data will show that the numbers petered out coming up to the summer months and then it kind of peaks afterwards in September [up to] November and December ,” Hare added.