THE National Road Safety Council (NRCS) is expressing relief at the marginal reduction in road fatalities for the last calendar year, while urging Jamaicans to exercise greater effort in keeping the roads safe from crashes in 2010.

The statistics revealed a downward trend in fatalities from 371 in 2006 to 350 in 2007, 343 in 2008 and 334 (preliminary figure from the police) in 2009. Commenting on the road crash figures, Paula Fletcher, executive director, NRSC, urged: “Though this is the fourth consecutive year of decrease in fatalities, the National Road Safety Council is appealing to all Jamaicans to exercise care and adhere to the rules to ensure safer roads.”

There was a marked decrease in pedestrian deaths on the roads in 2009 in comparison to 2008. Pedestrian deaths showed a reduction of 22.54 per cent and accounted for 23.65 per cent of the total fatalities. This is an improved trend, as over the years pedestrian deaths have hovered above 33 per cent of total fatalities. While welcoming the reduction in pedestrian deaths, Fletcher has expressed concern that children continue to be among the vulnerable groups of road users. There was an increase of 42.85 per cent in the number of children (ages 0-14) pedestrians who succumbed to road crashes.

Men remained the most vulnerable group on our roads. The statistics revealed that approximately 84 per cent of the persons killed in road crashes last year were males.