A troubling increase in road fatalities has pushed authorities to intensify strategies to change driver behaviour with plans to focus more on consistent public education in 2026 to curb the deadly trend of dangerous driving.

Road safety for Jamaica has been a long-standing national concern, with vehicular crashes claiming the lives of more than 300 people annually.

Up to December 30, 2025, Jamaica has seen an uptick in road fatalities, with 373 people losing their lives from 324 fatal collisions, representing a three per cent increase from 2024, which recorded 365 deaths in 315 crashes.

Director general of road traffic at Island Traffic Authority (ITA) Colonel (Ret’d) Daniel Pryce said, in response to the increase, the agency plans to expand public education campaigns aimed at drivers who continue to use the roads recklessly by coordinating with media houses and other institutions to push road safety messages in 2026.

“I really would much rather to have none [road crashes]. But we are aware that the carnage on the road has been caused by poor usage of the road and despite our best efforts to educate persons we still have the few people who continue to speed, especially in overtaking improperly,” Pryce said on Tuesday.

“In the coming year we’re going to be doubling up on our efforts to educate persons. So we will be partnering with places and institutions like the Jamaica Observer to see how best we can get the message out, and not just get the message out, but seek to reinforce it as much as possible,” Pryce added.

He said that focus would also prioritise taking the message into schools, highlighting that those students will grow into the adults who use or abuse roadways.

“We want to be strategic in changing the mindset of our road users; school children will become major road users and drivers in the future. So if we can get them to recognise how important it is to properly use the road, then we should be moving in the right direction,” said the ITA director.

Pryce added that the 2026 strategy will not abandon existing measures but instead intensify them, with a stronger focus on partnerships to promote safety and awareness tips.

Addressing a Jamaica Observer Press Club earlier this month, Transport Minister Daryl Vaz shared his concern with the current increase in road fatalities, which, he said, reached a “crisis stage” and was an issue his ministry would be giving special focus next year.

“What is transpiring now on the roads has actually taken over from the murder rate. The murder rate used to be the biggest thing; the murder rate now is trending down and, unfortunately, road fatalities are going up,” said Vaz as he addressed vehicular crash fatalities, which stood at 354 deaths up to Thursday, December 11.

On Tuesday, Pryce called the increase regrettable and unacceptable, urging the nation’s road users to operate with consideration for their lives and the lives of others.

“I want to appeal to our road users to slow down and stick within the speed limit, to make a conscious effort of slowing down on the roads, and to not drive if you are drinking. Let us be more patient on the road, because it’s better to arrive alive,” he said.

A policeman watches as a wrecker removes a mangled Nissan AD Wagon from a gully after a crash in Manchester earlier this month in which one person died.

A policewoman looks at the mangled Toyota Hiace minibus involved in a crash on PJ Patterson Highway in St Catherine last month. Five people lost their lives in that crash.