MONTEGO BAY, St James – Speeding motorists have been blamed for many of the scores of motor vehicle crashes along St James’ Elegant Corridor, which runs from the Sangster International Airport roundabout in Montego Bay to Lilliput.

According to commanding officer for the St James Police Division, Senior Superintendent Vernon Ellis, since the start of the year there have been nine fatalities arising from numerous motor vehicle crashes along the 17-kilometre corridor.

For the year 2020, he added, eight fatalities were recorded.

Just last week, a five-vehicle collision on the Rose Hall leg of the corridor resulted in the death of one man and the injury of four people.

The deceased has been identified as 53-year-old vendor Lincoln Blake of a Wellington Street address in Falmouth, Trelawny.

Senior Superintendent Ellis told the Jamaica Observer West that despite the efforts of the police, users of the roadway continue to show “blatant disregard for the rule of law.”

“The citizens have a way of flashing their headlights to [indicate that] there are police speed checks [ahead], and after the persons pass the police spot, they begin speeding again. The [individuals] who are using the road need to be mindful of the rules of these roads. Some of these drivers have very fast cars and it is obvious that they do not know how to drive these cars. We have seen where the traffic team is conducting radar operation on [the] Barrett Town [leg of the corridor] and down the road there is a fatal accident,” the senior officer lamented.

Following last week’s five-vehicle collision on the corridor, councillor for the Rose Hall Division, Anthony Murray, renewed his call for increased surveillance and repairs to defective street lamps on the roadway.

Councillor Murray stated that though he has made several appeals for more to be done to curb vehicular crashes, his calls have all fallen on deaf ears as neither the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) nor the National Works Agency (NWA) has put any measures in place to curb “the likelihood of these fatal accidents.”

“I definitely want to see more being done in this area to see if we can lessen the likelihood of these fatal accidents. At the last [St James Municipal Corporation] meeting, I made an appeal to the [JCF] to step up their surveillance and monitoring of the Rose Hall main road (a section of the Elegant Corridor) because it is an area that is highly prone to accidents. Prior to that meeting, I was told that there is no designated traffic unit in St James, similarly to what you see in St Ann or Trelawny, and that is a concern of mine [because] the Rose Hall main road is accident-prone and [these fatal accidents] are testaments to what I was speaking of in the council (corporation) meeting,” he told the Observer West.

And while admitting that policemen assigned to the Barrett Town Police Station sometimes monitor a section of the corridor, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) councillor shared that due to limited human resources and with just one service unit, they cannot effectively undertake the task.

“I know every now and then you might see the Barrett Town police trying to do something, but they are restricted in personnel and in units because the Barrett Town Police Station does not have a proper service unit, so they too are restricted, and they [oversee] the Rose Hall stretch all the way into Coral Gardens,” Murray stated.

He added that the lack of adequate lighting on the corridor also plays a role in the frequency of motor vehicular crashes.

“The National Works Agency, in collaboration with JPS (the Jamaica Public Service), is responsible for maintaining and installing the lights on the road. I have reached out to them on many occasions to have these lights repaired and to also have them replaced whenever they are damaged. The entire stretch is now dark so that impedes visibility on the road, and I think that contributed well to that accident [last week], so I am asking that also be looked at to put back lights on that stretch of road,” he stated.

SSP Ellis shared that contrary to the claims made by Councillor Murray, the JCF has been conducting multiple operations along the Rose Hall main road section of the corridor, which he described as “a traditional hot spot.”

“The Rose Hall main road has been a traditional hot spot in the parish since as far back as 1992. The division has a traffic enforcement team and a public safety team that conduct road safety operations and radar operations in this crash hotspot,” he told the Observer West.

“This enforcement team scientifically targets the crash hot spots where the accidents have happened over [a] period [of time] and we deploy the limited resources we have [to these areas]. A part of the drive, too, is to sensitise people, contrary to us just issuing people with tickets, we now tell [drivers] how to use the roads the right way, so some days we are out there not only issuing tickets,” he explained.

The senior superintendent revealed that through these operations, up to October 4 this year, some 2,699 speeding tickets have been issued to motorists, which is 253 more than the amount issued in the year 2020.

“As a part of the strategy, we have radar operations 500 metres apart on the same side of the road. We have this type of operation to [stop drivers] from speeding and since this operation, we have seen where one person was prosecuted for speeding and the same person was prosecuted 100 metres from there at another radar checkpoint, less than five minutes,” said SSP Ellis, citing an example of the challenges being faced by lawmen in their bid to curtail speeding on the corridor.

Community relations officer for the western office of the National Works Agency, Janel Ricketts, told the Observer West that the frequent motor vehicle accidents have contributed to the roadway being without adequate streetlights. She also shared that NWA is currently working on a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) to get the defected lights up and running.

“Sections of the area [is] dark and that is [because of] the accidents. [Several] of the poles have been knocked down so when you hit a particular pole, it [knocks the power] out all of those on the circuit. From time to time we have gone in and repaired these lights and we are working on a MOU with JPS, which will see JPS being responsible now for the maintenance of the lights,” she explained.

Checks carried out by the Observer West have revealed that roughly 30 per cent of the approximately 800 street lamps on the corridor are defective.

Ricketts also shared that NWA has implemented several measures to curb excessive speeding on the Rose Hall main road stretch of the corridor. Yet, she said, drivers have complained that they are slowing them down.

“While not speaking specifically to the accident last week, I don’t think this one took place at night-time either, but we have a general problem along that stretch with excessive speeding so over the years we recognised this, and we have tried quite a number of initiatives along that particular stretch of roadway.

“We put, for example, some raises, markers in the vicinity of the Blue Diamond area, ironically, [drivers] were complaining that they are slowing them down, which is exactly what we wanted them to do. You had [individuals] driving up on the soft shoulder, taking a quick [turn] so what we did was put some raised pavements there.”

She appealed to drivers traversing the Elegant Corridor to exercise more caution, as the biggest challenge being encountered now, is irresponsible driving.

“The challenge that is being encountered now is not so much the area not being lit, it is how persons use the roads, so we encourage persons to take due care when traversing the road and avoid excessive speeding because you really ought to be traveling at the speed limit,” she said.

“Speeding really does kill and we are encouraging persons to abide by the speed limit.”

The speed limit on the corridor is 80-kilometre per hour for the most part, and 50-kilometre per hour in the built-up areas.

Murray is also urging motorists using the corridor to exercise caution.

“Most importantly, we can’t remove the responsibilities from the drivers who are [traversing] the road, they have to be careful and drive within the prescribed limits and codes because you can’t just speed as you will, there is an established code that regulates how you’re supposed to be driving on the road and what speed you are supposed to be driving on the road, but I think many drivers tend to be reckless whenever they’re using this stretch,” he argued.

“From dem touch Rose Hall, it’s like everybody see speed and the history of this place tells you that it is not a safe place to travel on. I am a driver, I live in the area, and I am afraid because I have seen so many dead bodies on this road. To be honest with you, I think we have more people [dying] in Rose Hall by accidents than by guns or other means.”