KINGSTON, Jamaica – A day before Christmas traffic police are warning motorist to brace for increased activity “as never before” to keep road fatalities to a minimum during the holidays.

“Let this be a warning to motorists that the next few days the police will be out on the road like never before,” Collin Milanese, detective Inspector of the Traffic Department warned.

Milanese Monday joined other members of the Traffic Department who issued the warning less than 12 hours after two men were killed and six others injured in two separate motor vehicle crashes in the Corporate Area on the weekend.

In the first incident, a man was killed and another injured in a motorcycle crash on the Temple Hall main road in St Andrew.

The dead man has been identified as Reynaldo Pike, a 25-year-old truck driver of Cockburn Gardens, Kingston 11.

According to reports from the Stony Hill Police, Pike was riding a motorcycle along the roadway when he allegedly lost control of the cycle, fell, and was run over by an oncoming motor car.

The pillion passenger also sustained injuries, and was taken to hospital. Police report that the driver of the motorcar was unhurt and has since been warned for prosecution pending the outcome of further investigations.

In the second incident, a man was killed and six other persons injured in a two-vehicle crash at the intersection of Marcus Garvey Drive and Industrial Terrace in Kingston.

Dead is 55-year-old Sylvester Staple of Marcus Garvey Drive, Kingston 13, while a woman and five children-ages two to 15-sustained injuries in the incident.

Reports from the Tivoli Gardens Police are that about 8:10 pm, Staple was driving a Nissan AD wagon along the roadway when it collided with a Toyota Carina motor car. Staple, along with his six passengers, sustained injuries and were taken to hospital where Staple was pronounced dead. The other six remain in hospital.

“The holidays are here police will be stepping up their clampdown on all those motorists who are planning to go to parties and drink and to others who feel that they do not have to follow rules and regulation,” said Radcliffe Lewis, head of the Traffic Department.

There have been 245 traffic deaths since January 2012 compared to 295 deaths at December 21, 2011. The total number of road fatalities for 2011 was 308.

Police earlier this year reported that the country was on target to record less than 300 traffic deaths for a calendar year, a first since 1999.

– Kimmo Matthews