THE Airports Authority of Jamaica (AAJ) has noted that while it has a commercial agreement in place with the organisers of the motor sport event ‘Drag Rivals’, held at the Vernamfield aerodrome in Clarendon on Sunday, responsibility for all matters related to the event is the remit of the organisers.

Audley Deidrick, president of the AAJ, which has regulatory oversight for all the island’s airports and airstrips, advised the Jamaica Observer on Monday, regarding liability, “So like any other commercial agreement, they would be responsible for all the relevant approvals and insurances, and plans that are relevant to staging the event. It would have all been their responsibility because the place is an airstrip. It wasn’t rented to operate an aircraft. If that was the case then we would have to be talking about what the AAJ did.”

The event ended in tragedy with four people being rushed to hospital, after a drag racer crashed into spectators. One of the injured four later died.

Organisers KenT Racing have since issued a statement assuring that it took all necessary and mandatory precautions sanctioned by the motorsport regulator — Jamaica Millennium Motoring Club (JMMC) — to ensure the safety of spectators, participants and team members at the event.

Director Kenneth Timoll said KenT Racing had secured permits from the Clarendon Municipal Corporation, the Jamaica Fire Brigade, the police, and the JMMC.

“We erected integral barriers, caution signs, had ambulances and fire marshalls on-site as well as adequate security personnel on the ground to consistently monitor and enforce our safety protocols,” Timoll said on Monday.

The JMMC is the International Automobile Federation (FIA)-appointed regulator for motor sport in Jamaica. Sprints, drag racing, circuit racing, rallies, karting and dexterity tests are all sanctioned by the JMMC, which also issues competition licences and adjudicates disciplinary and other motorsport-related matters in the island.

According to the FIA’s temporary motorsport venue safety guidelines issued April 2021, when deciding on the best area for spectator viewing, consideration should be given to factors such as: the approach angle of the competing cars; speed during the sections closest to the spectator zone; and technical difficulty of the section closest to the spectator zone.

The FIA advises that there should also be a buffer zone between the barriers defining the edge of the competitive area, and the barriers which mark the spectator zone. “This buffer provides an additional safety zone should an errant car collide with the edge of the trackside barrier,” the FIA advised.

As set out by the FIA, there should be civil liability insurance in place covering both physical or material damage that may occur at the event. Furthermore, it states that the owner of the temporary venue “will want to be assured that insurance is in place for activities taking place on their land”.

Meanwhile, Ian Donaldson, one of the directors of the Jamaica Karting Association, pointed out that Sunday’s mishap was an unusual occurrence as the sport is generally safe.

“This is my personal opinion – drag racing is the safest form of racing because you’re racing against one other person and you’re racing in a straight line. It’s not a circuit race where the car is going all over the place. What happened yesterday, that is like one in a five thousand chance of it happening. From the track to where the barriers were put was like 100 feet, so that is safe. There were barriers there but now that we have learnt something new, maybe you could put up other barriers, like big truck tyres, that in the event that a car gets away it will crash in the tyres first, and it might slow it down,” he told the Observer.

Donaldson added that in some jurisdictions there are retaining walls, but this wouldn’t be feasible on government property.

“But you can put tyres. For the general layout I still give them [the organisers] high marks for it because the organisers follow international protocol and they race abroad as well, so they are very familiar with safety infrastructure,” he said.

Timoll has urged patience from the public while the matter is under investigation, and noted that his outfit is in dialogue with those who were injured to monitor their condition.

Chairman of the JMMC Stephen Gunter declined to comment on the matter, advising that the regulator would be issuing its own statement.