HEAD of the constabulary’s Public Safety and Traffic Enforcement Branch (PSTEB), Assistant Commissioner of Police Gary McKenzie is indicating that the 485 road deaths reported in the island last year could change.

“Last year we had 422 collisions that resulted in 485 deaths; this is really not the final figure because we are doing an audit on the data, and the reason for that is we have had a number of crashes that have to go to post-mortem examination,” ACP McKenzie told the first virtual townhall meeting of the St Catherine South Police Division for this year on Sunday.

“We have seen, in the past, where some of them have come back and the cause of death is not the crash. So, we are actually doing an audit to see whether some of these deaths are not as a result of the crash itself and there could be other crashes that persons have died in that we have not had the data yet, so we are doing that,” McKenzie stated.

There were 5,000 traffic accidents in the island last year with the majority occurring in the St Catherine South Division, according to the police.

In the meantime, McKenzie said given the number of incidents on the roads since the start of the new year, there is “already an issue”.

“We note that up to [last] Saturday we had four collisions and five deaths so far this year. We are just on the eighth day of the year so already we are seeing that there is an issue,” McKenzie said on Sunday.

Since Monday, an additional two fatalities have been reported stemming from a crash on the Mandela Highway late Sunday evening.

Noting that only August in 2022 had deaths lower than the number of days in the month, ACP McKenzie said “the months have been very bloody on the roadways”.

He further pointed out that “most crashes are as a result of human error”.

Four hundred and eighty-seven people died on the roads in 2021, according to the police.

ACP McKenzie, in the meantime, lamented that police have been spending “too much time” investigating vehicular accidents, adding that there are not enough cops to monitor all roads.

He called for more dividing lines to be placed down the middle of roads, pointing out that some crashes occur because motorists are not aware of the side of the road that they are on. Additionally, he said there is need for speed signs on several thoroughfares.