THE overturned Toyota motor car has now been removed from the Lanrumney main road in St Mary where a nurse narrowly escaped serious injury or possible death when it careened off the road and landed in a ditch by the roadway last Wednesday afternoon.

The nurse, who refused to speak with the Jamaica Observer, was pulled from the wreckage by motorists. As she stood along the thoroughfare with her hands at her jaw, apparently reflecting on what could have happened, onlookers remarked that they were thankful she was alive and not badly hurt.

Other onlookers, who refused to speak on the record, were heard saying it was unfortunate that a front line worker who most likely has sacrificed a lot, particularly in the fight against COVID-19, would now have to face the additional burden of repairing, or possibly replacing, the damaged vehicle.

When the Sunday Observer spoke to the police at the scene, we were told that it appears that whilst navigating the corner on the main road the nurse, the sole occupant of the car, oversteered and lost control of the vehicle. The police said she sustained minor injuries.

Haleem Linton, deputy superintendent of the Jamaica Fire Brigade, St Mary, said based on the reports he received, the vehicle was southbound when the accident occurred.

Linton said, while the area is not a crash hot spot, there have been occasional collisions, and he advised motorists to be extremely careful because when it rains, that stretch of road tends to get very slippery.

On July 23 there was one fatality as a result of a car crash in the same vicinity near to Llanrumney on the Heywood Hall main road about 7:00 pm.

The weekly crash report from the Road Safety Unit states that the driver of a 1996 Green Honda Civic motor car lost control and crashed into a coconut tree. All occupants of the motor vehicle received injuries and were transported to hospital for treatment, where the male passenger, age 47, succumbed.

Further, Linton made an appeal to motorists to limit speeding.

“While we have seen an increase in motor vehicle accidents over the last three months, there have not been much fatalities. But, I am calling on motorists to exercise caution when travelling along the main corridors and to limit the idea of speeding. The fire brigade stands ready and we are prepared for incidents of that nature, however, a lot of fatalities that we see on the road these days are due to motorists speeding and I would caution motorists to take their time on the roads,” Linton said.

“If you’re late, you’re already late. It doesn’t make sense you add speed to your purpose and you end up not reaching your destination, God forbid,” he added.

According to the Road Safety Unit, as at July 29, a total of 275 people have been killed in 247 fatal crashes. Private motor vehicle drivers account for 20 per cent of the road users killed for the same period.