THE Caribbean Maritime Institute (CMI), in collaboration with the Road Safety Unit of the Ministry of Transport, Works and Housing, has embarked on a major training initiative focusing on traffic crash investigating and reporting.

Executive director of the CMI, Dr Fritz Pinnock, explained that training is a major factor in stemming the tide of traffic crashes that Jamaica has been experiencing. “The CMI sees itself as the capacity building arm of the Ministry of Transport, Works and Housing, which has adopted a multi-faceted approach to the carnage on the roads and a big part of it has to do with training. We are paying the price for things that we have ignored over the years,” he pointed out.

The new collaboration with the Road Safety Unit will see the delivery of a certificate course in Traffic Crash Investigating and Reporting, the first of which began on March 17 and will end on May 18. According to Dr Pinnock, the Road Safety Unit and the CMI collaborated to create the programme following training stints with the Institute of Police Technology and Management, University of North Florida and Aston University out of the United Kingdom.

The first cohort consists of 29 participants from the insurance industry, the fire brigade, the police, the legal fraternity and independent persons.

The course will last for 10 weeks and will focus on using a scientific approach in crash investigation and proper reporting and involves field work, practical exercise, collision analysis, evidence gathering and recording.

“It will come with full international accreditation from the Chartered Institute of Transport and Logistics in the UK and in the future by The City and Guilds of London Institute,” the Dr Pinnock said. “It is competency based, so we are looking for people like retired police officers, people working in road safety systems and attorneys, so that the insurance industry can get a cadre of people, who formerly had to be trained overseas. We are now going to produce our own experts,” he added.

He explained that the programme will begin in Jamaica but has been developed for the Caribbean and the intention is to reach as far as South America.

“There is no such training right now for crash investigators outside of what is done in North America, so we are putting a brand together for our environment,” Dr Pinnock said.