The National Road Safety Council (NRSC) is to receive financial assistance from international partners to advance road-safety activities across the island.

In a recent interview with JIS News, NRSC Vice-Chairman Dr Lucien Jones said the money would come from the Global Road Safety Fund and another international partner that would be announced at a later date.

“The money from the Global Road Safety Fund would be US$400,000. I can say to you that the funding negotiated with the other international partner is going to be significant and more than what we have gotten from the Global Road Safety Fund,” he said.

Dr Jones pointed out that the money from the Global Road Safety Fund would be channelled through the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), noting that dialogue is ongoing.

“We know that the submission made by PAHO on our behalf to the Global Road Safety Fund is currently under review, and a decision is to be made shortly. We know that we will have funds to assist the police in speed control and perhaps the roll-out of a more comprehensive breathalyser programme,” he said.

“In that respect, we know that, worldwide, about 30 per cent of drivers who are involved in fatal road crashes have been found to be under the influence of alcohol, so that’s a very important aspect of the programme in Jamaica, which the funds from the Global Road Safety Fund will be directed to improve,” Dr Jones added.

He said the money would focus on, among other things, injury surveillance resulting from road accidents.

“It is our hope that the money from the Global Road Safety Fund for this matter will bear fruit. It is a very important issue because countries can be fooled, in a sense, to believe that they are doing well if they just focus on fatalities rather than injuries. So, in terms of an indicator… of how well a country is doing, that’s one issue, but also the cost of care of these victims is significant for the country,” Dr Jones said.

He explained that a significant amount of the health-care budget and beds in hospitals across Jamaica has been dedicated to deal with injuries; therefore, the National Road Safety Council is very happy to be getting some funds to help the Ministry of Health to deal with the matter of injury surveillance.

Dr Jones said, too, that funds would be directed into boosting response to crash sites.

“Money will be channelled into how quickly we can get emergency units to a crash site and pick up those people who are injured very quickly and take them to hospital, which can provide the care for them. So, that’s the aspect of the allocation from the Global Road Safety Fund that we are working on now,” he noted.

“We have successfully negotiated for those funds to be used, also, to employ a consultant who is going to come to Jamaica and engage the various actors within the road-safety community. This is to find out the kind of capacity we have to deal with road crashes in Jamaica, on one hand, and on the other hand, whether or not we have the capacity to roll out a comprehensive action plan for the Decade of Action for road safety, which is being led by the World Health Organization,” Dr Jones added.

He emphasised that there is a mandate, as part of the larger global village, to reduce the number of fatalities by 50 per cent by 2030, so the allocation from the Global Road Safety Fund would be very timely and very welcome, and it would be put to very good use.

Meanwhile, Dr Jones said the funds from the other international partner would run for three years and would focus on greater helmet use by motorcyclists.

The National Road Safety Council was established in 1993 as a non-profit organisation by public and private-sector interest groups.