The Jamaica Automotive Association (JAA) in partnership with the Jamaica National (JN) Foundation launched their iDrive4Life initiative to the media and special guests on Thursday, May 29 at the former’s Central Avenue, St Andrew, headquarters.

“We recognise the situation where driver training in Jamaica is concerned, and we saw it as an emergency to address the issues of driver training through a comprehensive approach. So the approach is really to address it from a practical standpoint, is to address it from a policy standpoint, to include technology and to use empowerment as a tool to educate persons that are engaged in the programme, and take the funds that are generated, because it is a non-profit initiative, and put them back into road safety, into the school, into the communities, so that we can shift the culture,” Montel Hill, lead, JN Foundation Driving Academy, told the Jamaica Observer’s weekly Auto magazine.

iDrive4Life includes seven packages to new, professional, or older drivers just looking to sharpen their skills, using a combination of practical on-the-road lessons, driver simulator training, road safety education, and empowerment workshops.

The packages can be purchased per session or at a slight discount for a complete 10 session programme, with an option for driver simulator use. Training sessions run from 30 minutes to an hour dependent on the package chosen.

Of the seven available driving courses, the sixth can be designed by the user, while the seventh is a unique 3 hour Foreign Driver Orientation Programme for overseas drivers wishing to familiarise themselves with local laws and driving culture.

“Our stakeholders are excited that there is a programme that will change driver training in Jamaica that can possibly translate into changing the culture of driving,” Hill said.

iDrive4Life will be fully launched at a to be determined date in June, which is Road Safety month.

As of March, the Island Traffic Authority had reported a 20 per cent decline in road fatalities when compared to the same period last year. The 74 fatal crashes that took place up to March 2025 resulted in 80 deaths.

The JAA and JN Foundation hope to use the iDrive4Life initiative to further lower that number.

“We plan to keep iDrive4Life running for as long as we can until we start to see results where we are changing the culture in Jamaica,” Hill said.