SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth —Former FIFA referee Dwight Royal is in serious condition in hospital after being involved in a motor vehicle accident here Tuesday.

Police could not be reached for comment yesterday. However, eye witness reports say Royal, the 42-year-old head of the Physical Education Department at St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS), was driving out of a gas station across the road from the school shortly after midday when the incident happened.

Reports say Royal’s car was hit by a speeding vehicle travelling easterly from the centre of Santa Cruz. Unconfirmed reports say the other driver fled the scene.

Royal, who was reportedly trapped inside the crushed car, was eventually rescued and rushed to hospital by ambulance after parts of the wreck were cut away. Players and officials of the STETHS football team preparing to depart for their ISSA/FLOW daCosta Cup semi-final game against Rusea’s High in Montego Bay were among those who rushed to the scene on hearing the crash.

Rusea’s won the game 5-2.

St Elizabeth police have repeatedly urged residents to “slow down” on the newly resurfaced road extending from Gutters, through Santa Cruz, to Lacovia in the west.

Corporal Albert Simpson, who has responsibility for traffic in Santa Cruz and surrounding areas, told the Jamaica Observer recently that five people have died in motor vehicle accidents on the four-mile stretch between the entrance to STETHS and Lacovia in less than a year.

Speeding and improper overtaking have been identified as the main reasons for those accidents.

— Garfield Myers