Another six road users, including a husband and wife, perished in motor vehicle crashes during the week of August 27 to September 2 according to the latest weekly statistics provided by the Road Safety Unit (RSU) on Friday.

Their deaths pushed to 315, the number of people killed in 274 fatal crashes as at Friday, September 2.

The latest victims include two motorcyclists, a pedestrian, one driver of a public passenger vehicle, one driver of a commercial motor vehicle and a commercial motor vehicle passenger.

The driver and passenger of the commercial motor vehicle were a husband and wife team. According to a police report, Tomie McCook, 50-years-old, was driving a Toyota Hiace bus with his 49-year-old wife Annette Brown McCook as a passenger along the North Coast Highway in Braco, Trelawny about 1:30 pm on September 1, when they collided with a Toyota Coaster bus driven by 63-year-old Newvin Johnson.

A Honda motor car was also involved in the accident.

The McCooks and Johnson died as a result of injuries they sustained in the crash while up to 22 passengers from the Coaster bus were injured.

The police reported that Tomie was transporting his wife home following her dialysis treatment, when in an attempt to avoid a crash with another vehicle he reportedly lost control of the van and slammed head-on into the Toyota Coaster bus that was transporting staff to work at Ocean Coral Spring Hotel in Trelawny.

According to one of the hotel workers, Johnson tried desperately to avoid the collision and drove the Coaster bus onto the soft shoulder.

Meanwhile, the RSU is reporting that fatal crashes have decreased by four per cent while fatalities have decreased by two per cent when compared with the similar period in 2021.

Pedestrians currently account for 19 per cent of the road users killed as at September 2 while motorcyclists account for 27 per cent and private motor vehicle drivers 22 per cent.

Private motor vehicle passengers account for 15 per cent of the fatalities while the group classified as most vulnerable road users (pedestrians, pedalcyclists, motorcyclists and pillion riders) account for 53 per cent of all road deaths since the start of the year.

Males continue to make up 85 per cent of all road users killed with females accounting for 15 per cent.