FALMOUTH, Trelawny — Despite the sustained monitoring of the roadways in Trelawny by the police, the parish has seen the highest percentage increase in road fatalities across the 19 police divisions islandwide since the start of the year.

Up to Tuesday morning, 24 people have died as a result of injuries sustained in motor vehicle crashes in Trelawny, which amounts to 11 or 85 per cent more fatalities than were recorded over the same time last year.

As of Tuesday morning, 368 people have been killed in crashes across the island compared to 376 over the corresponding period last year.

Commander of the Trelawny Police Division Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Winston Milton told the Jamaica Observer West that the police earlier this year intensified their operations along the roadways in the parish in an attempt to cauterise motor vehicle crashes.

In fact, he revealed that the division recently added a brand new SUV to the Highway Patrol Unit, bringing the number of vehicles to three.

Additionally, the mounting of spot checks have been intensified on the roadways throughout the parish.

“We have ramped up the Highway Patrol Unit now with a brand new service vehicle over the last two weeks. We have also increased spot checks on the main corridors, particularly the Northern Coastal Highway corridor where we have a lot of these accidents — with particular focus on moving violations such as speeding, reckless and dangerous driving, exceeding speed limit,” stated DSP Milton.

“We are also ensuring the use of safety devices such as seat belts, helmets, child safety seats and all of that.”

Last month, a Toyota Coaster bus transporting hotel workers and a Toyota Hiace bus with a couple on board collided at a section of highway in Braco in Trelawny, leaving 62-year-old driver Newvin Johnson of Liberty Valley; Tomie McCook and his wife Annette Brown McCook, both 49; all of Brown’s Town, St Ann addresses, dead.

At the time, senior medical officer at the Falmouth Public General Hospital Dr Leighton Perrins told the Observer West that members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) should have regular patrols on the corridor to penalise incalcitrant motorists, stating that “we do recognise that this is an accident corridor”.

“We combat this [crash] issue on a regular basis. Unfortunately, there were 27 people involved in this one [recent crash] but we have several trauma, mass casualties, but not with these numbers. I think that we as a nation need to do something about curbing or controlling as best as possible. I think we need something like a highway patrol for these people who are doing these infractions. They are not being seen,” the senior medic said.

Years ago, then senior superintendent of police in charge of traffic, Radcliffe Lewis, described a section of the Northern Coastal Highway corridor between Braco and Duncans as slippery as okra, which he attributed to the cause of a string of fatal crashes along that stretch of roadway.

Director of the Island Traffic Authority (ITA) Canute Hare agrees that the slippery nature of white road surfaces, which are present along sections of the Northern Coastal Highway which runs through Trelawny, could factor in motor vehicle collisions.

“Trelawny has white roads…roads that are slippery even when dry. People need to be careful when driving on those roads. Drivers need to look at those surfaces because sections of Trelawny roads are white and skid resistant. Remember Radcliffe [Lewis] said the road slippery like okra.

“White road surfaces are not friendly to motorists and sometimes they [are] not driving with due care on these roads,” Hare declared.

He made an appeal to motorists to exercise caution on white roads.

“I would like to appeal to drivers to be cognisant of the colouration on the road surface. Road surfaces that are white are not road surfaces that you must be speeding on. And if it even says you must go 80 [kph], don’t go 80, go 40. Take your time on those roads because it is slippery when dry. So motorists need to be cognisant of the road condition and the environment they are operating in. And Trelawny has quite a bit of those [white] roads,” said Hare, who was formerly the director of the Road Safety Unit in the Ministry of Transport and Mining.

“The corridor from St Ann to Negril has quite a bit of white roads and you have quite a bit of fatalities along those corridors,” he added.

The ITA director disclosed that his agency is partnering with the National Works Agency (NWA) to ensure the corridor has “requisite skid resistance”.

“So we are in dialogue with the NWA with respect to ensuring that that corridor has the requisite skid resistance. We are aware of the skidding that will take place on those roads,” he stressed.

“But motorists need to be cognisant of the environment that they are operating in and adjust accordingly. Sometimes we are travelling at exponential speed that causes serious problems to other people and causes débâcles.”