JAMAICA’S road network was not spared Hurricane Melissa’s onslaught when the Category 5 system hit sections of the island last October. In fact, many roads were left damaged or destroyed, cutting off communities and exposing long-standing weaknesses in the country’s transportation infrastructure.

As clean-up and recovery continue, road safety experts warn that rebuilding efforts must go beyond restoring what was lost and, instead, focus on climate resilience, safer road design, and protecting the most vulnerable road users.

Across several parishes, flood waters, landslides, and storm surge undermined road surfaces, washed away shoulders, and weakened bridges. Earlier estimates from the Inter-American Development Bank put the cost for physical damage at US$8.8 billion, with 62 per cent being attributed to damage to residential and non residential buildings, while 33 per cent was related to infrastructure, including roads. The figure has since risen, with the total damage and losses associated with Hurricane Melissa now standing at an estimated US$12.2 billion, according to Planning Institute of Jamaica Director General Dr Wayne Henry. This figure is equivalent to 56.7 per cent of Jamaica’s 2024 gross domestic product (GDP).

In many rural and coastal areas, roads have become impassable to cars and trucks, leaving access to only motorcycles and pedestrians. This shift has placed motorcycles at the centre of disaster recovery, both as a lifeline for communities and as a growing road safety concern.

Dr Lucien Jones, vice-chairman of the National Road Safety Council and chairman of the National Helmet Wearing Coalition — an initiative implemented by the JN Foundation in collaboration with the National Road Safety Council and with funding from the FIA Foundation — emphasised Jamaica’s road reconstruction efforts must be guided by the safe system approach.

“As we rebuild and improve our road network Jamaica must apply the safe system approach, a framework that recognises human error is inevitable and designs roads to ensure that mistakes do not result in death or serious injury. This means safer road design, safer speeds, safer vehicles, safer road users, and strong post-crash response working together to protect lives,” he asserted.

Morgan Fletcher, operations lead for Latin America and the Caribbean at the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP), warned that Jamaica’s geography makes it particularly vulnerable to climate-related disasters, and that rebuilding must account for these realities.

“We saw in Jamaica that many low-lying coastal areas were damaged,” he noted. “Planning where people can go, identifying alternatives, and ensuring those routes are safer is very important.”

iRAP research and road safety assessments conducted in Jamaica have identified a number of shortcomings in the existing road network, including narrow lanes, limited or non-existent shoulders, poor drainage, and inadequate protection for pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists.

“Where you have pedestrians and cyclists on the network, that increases risk — particularly when damaged road surfaces and potholes force people closer together.

“It’s important that people respect each other on the roads and that speeds are lower where rehabilitation is taking place,” Fletcher said.

Motorcycles have become essential for reaching communities where roads remain partially blocked or unsuitable for larger vehicles. While they provide critical mobility for residents, emergency responders, and aid delivery, motorcycles also expose riders to significantly higher risks on damaged and debris-strewn roads.

“We’ve got more dangerous road environments, not only the surface quality, but there’s a lot of debris left on the sides of the road.

“People are more likely to come off their bikes because of road conditions, and there’s also less police available to support enforcement,” Fletcher said.

With the duties of members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force also extending to disaster response, Fletcher stressed that public education and community responsibility become even more critical.

“It’s a combination of enforcement and making people aware of the risks. Using public education to build a sense of community responsibility so that everyone commits to staying safe together is essential right now,” he said.

Road traffic crashes represent a major public health issue in Jamaica, even outside of disaster contexts, and Fletcher was direct about the stakes involved.

“I don’t think you can talk about sustainability when road networks are killing almost 400 people per year,” he said. “Especially when road traffic injury is the leading cause of death for people aged five to 29 worldwide.”

He added that the rebuilding effort presents a rare opportunity to correct long-standing deficiencies in the road network.

“There’s an opportunity where roadside vegetation has been damaged to create wider clear zones, reducing run-off-road fatalities,” Fletcher said.

As Jamaica moves from response to recovery, the operations lead for Latin America and the Caribbean at iRAP emphasised that coordination across all stakeholders, underpinned by data and modern assessment tools, will be essential to achieving lasting change.

“Using shared data, technology, and coordinated planning will help ensure roads are rebuilt with flooding, safety, and resilience in mind,” he said. “The choices made now will shape Jamaica’s road safety outcomes for decades to come.”

The National Helmet Wearing Coalition said it is doing its part, along with local and regional road safety partners, to ensure that Jamaican roads are safer for all, especially the most vulnerable road users which include motorcycle drivers and pillion passengers.

With climate change increasing the frequency and severity of extreme weather events, ensuring safer roads and safer riding will be essential to protecting lives during recovery and beyond.