PORT MARIA, St Mary — Six years after a staff member from St Mary High suggested that drivers’ education should be offered in schools, the educational institution has been added to the list of schools across the island gifted with simulators that will facilitate just that.

“[The] idea of driver education in schools actually came out of advocacy from a staff member of St Mary High, Sir Nicholas Taylor, who was insistent at a meeting we were having,” Transport Minister Robert Montague said during the handover ceremony on Wednesday. Taylor, he added, had learned of the idea from his nephew Joshua Brady who “had done some research in Florida”.

Among the schools that have had simulators installed over the years are Tacky High School and Oracabessa High with Wycliffe Martin High on the list of schools that will get machines.

“We have a serious problem with road safety in Jamaica. If we start a driver education programme in high schools, ultimately we will get better drivers,” said the transport minister in explaining the rationale behind the gifts to schools. “Most people learn to drive after school. They don’t know the road code, somebody give them a drive and they take a chance here and there and they learn to control the vehicle. They don’t know how to drive. And you know it when you ‘buck’ up some people on a bridge and somebody is to reverse. They cannot reverse, they can’t park, and then they get aggressive and start to quarrel and curse.”

Member of Parliament for Central St Mary, Dr Morais Guy (PNP), welcomed the gift and spoke of the role it may play in reducing the strain on the health-care system caused by traffic mishaps. Guy, who is also Opposition spokesperson on health, cited a study that put the financial impact at billions of dollars.

“The direct and indirect cost to the health-care system as a consequence of road fatalities was $12.6 billion. These are 2014 figures. Can you imagine what they are now?” he said in referencing the research commissioned by the National Health Fund, the Ministry of Health, The University of the West Indies, Jamaica National and others. “So, if we can start here at St Mary High School, in the rural area, to equip our students with the ability to master driving, then certainly… it will reduce the burden on the health sector.”

The school’s principal, Julliet Frazar-Sadaar, who said she was impressed with the machine, suggested that its usefulness may even extend beyond driving lessons. She thinks it could even be used in English lessons.

“Teachers can use this driving simulator to teach more than road code,” she said. “The only challenge will be how to share it [among] all who [will] use it.”

The simulator was acquired through a partnership between the Island Traffic Authority (ITA) and the Transport Authority, both of which fall under Montague’s portfolio. It is in line with the ITA’s wider thrust to work with the education ministry to introduce a driver education programme in high schools.

— Davia Ellis