KINGSTON, Jamaica – The goal of achieving safety in the traffic environment is a task that the Ministry of Transport and Mining will not relent on, says portfolio minister Audley Shaw.

Delivering the keynote address at the inaugural meeting of the Jamaica Caribbean (JAMCARIB) Youth Network for Road Safety, held on Thursday, at the University of Technology (UTech), Shaw said road crashes place a heavy burden on the nation, cause trauma to families, and his team is committed to reducing the accidents.

“Road traffic injuries place an enormous burden on the country’s economy and healthcare systems, especially where young people constitute a major part of the population. With this meeting, it is vital to engage youth in road-safety policy design and implementation,” the minister emphasised.

He argued that with more than 450 persons losing their lives in 2022 due to road crashes, too many productive people, “who had their whole lives ahead of them”, are dying.

Shaw told the audience that more young people aged between 15 and 29 are dying from road crashes than other diseases, “which means that road crashes are a serious threat to our future, no matter where in the world we reside”.

“When we lose these young lives, it is not only the families that suffer, but we suffer as a nation. The pain and grief are a powerful driving force to help to prevent similar devastation and grief to other families,” Shaw said.

Statistics from the Road Safety Unit state that the main causes of crashes are excessive speeding, drivers failing to keep to the correct side of the roadway, overtaking and pedestrian errors.

The minister said this can only be reduced by behavioural change and discipline.

“Therefore, road safety requires a comprehensive, combined approach from every Jamaican to ensure that lives are not lost,” Shaw said.

“We must remember that the faster we drive motor vehicles, the longer they will take to stop and the greater the impact of the collision,” he added.

The Youth Network for Road Safety was established by Transport Operators Development Sustainable Services (TODSS) to engage some 5,000 young people in the Caribbean in designing, developing, and implementing programmes and projects aimed at promoting road safety.