Following an early Sunday morning motor vehicle crash that claimed the lives of four people, including a child, vice-chairman of the National Road Safety Council (NRSC) Dr Lucien Jones has hit out against the practice of some motorists streaming and watching videos among other things while driving.

Sunday’s crash occurred on the St Catherine leg of the PJ Patterson Highway around 12:30 am in the vicinity of KM5/850 eastbound. The deadly crash involved a 2002 Toyota Probox and a black 2022 Mercedes Benz motorcar. The deceased include two females, Tyesha Manhertz and Wendy Lammie, ages 22 and 29, respectively, and two males, Andre McLeish and Tray Stewart, ages 27 and eight, respectively.

According to the police, the deceased were among nearly a dozen passengers including children who were travelling in the Toyota Probox motorcar that was heading into Kingston. The Probox reportedly overturned after the driver lost control of the vehicle and then crashed into the median on the highway.

The police further reported that while the occupants of the Probox attempted to exit the vehicle, the Mercedes Benz which was heading to Kingston crashed into the Probox, killing the four people. Several others received injuries and were taken to hospital.

Based on information he obtained from the police, Jones pointed out that there is some evidence that “distracted driving” among other factors played a role in Sunday’s deadly crash.

“The police report suggested that somebody was speeding. There was distracted driving and there is inquiry about a collision with a vehicle in a previous crash. This is our worst nightmare come true as road safety advocates,” Jones expressed.

He pointed out that what is required are “drivers who are not watching and streaming videos while driving and all kinds of craziness, drivers who don’t speed and who are not distracted, who don’t drive under the influence of alcohol, who don’t use their cellphones and drive and pedestrians who use the roads carefully”.

“In this context of reported distracted driving and speeding, of the five components that make up the safe systems approach that the National Road Safety Council has been promoting, safe roads, safe vehicles, safe speeds, safe road users and an efficient post-crash system, by far the most important one we face in this country is producing safe road users,” Jones said.

The NRSC vice-chairman called for an all hands-on-deck approach “to stop this madness of excessive speeding and distracted driving and distracted walking on our roads”.

He said that all the work that the NRSC has been dedicating to road safety is to prevent tragedies such as Sunday’s crash. Jones underscored that road fatalities place second on the list of the leading causes of violent death in Jamaica. Murders sit at the number one spot.

“They were all under the age of 30. This is absolutely shocking and it happened on one of the best roads in the country. All our efforts are to try and prevent this kind of craziness, this kind of suffering and pain for families. Ninety-two people have died this year, 92 precious souls.

“The pain and the grief of families and for the nation is what we must all attend to. How can we bring this to an end? We need all resources possible. Everybody has to be on deck with this, the entire nation to try and put a stop to this kind of multiple fatality crash.

“We continue to speak, we continue to warn, we continue to work with civil society and the Government, especially with the police to try and put an end to this. It can be done but every hand has to be on deck to stop this kind of carnage and pain and grief that we are all suffering,” Jones lamented.

Despite the figure of 92 road deaths from 83 crashes between Sunday and the start of 2025, of note is that there were 14 less deaths when compared to the same period in 2024.

In January this year, 30 people died from 28 collisions. In February there were 27 collisions which led to another 30 deaths. March so far accounted for 32 deaths arising from 28 crashes.

The Toyota Probox in which the now deceased were travelling to Kingston on Sunday morning. (Llewellyn Wynter)

Eight-year-old Tray Stewart.

Deceased driver of the vehicle Andre McLeish.

Twenty-two-year-old Tyesha Manhertz, one of the deceased in Sunday’s crash.

Twenty-nine-year-old Wendy Lammie, who also died in the crash on Sunday.