THE National Road Safety Council (NRSC) says Jamaicans should see significant changes to road safety next year when key aspects of the new regulatory framework are rolled out and, in another two years, there could be a reduction in fatalities in at least two categories of road users.

Vice-chairman of the NRSC Dr Lucien Jones stressed that this is hypothetical, based on the strategies that are now being employed, and those targeting the two categories — private motor car (PMC) drivers and motorcyclists.

Dr Jones told the Jamaica Observer that, given the strategies that are now being employed, and vulnerable categories being targeted, it can reasonably be expected that fatalities in those two categories would be reduced within the next two years.

“I don’t think we are going to have the full provisions of the new Road Traffic Act until year-end. We are talking about a two-year span to have some significant reduction. You would also have to further break that down into what elements of those things that we are doing are going to impact on PMC drivers and motorcyclists,” he said.

The vice-chairman explained that the international community has been recommending putting targets in place for individual categories of road users, as part of the strategy to lower the numbers.

“For example, we are having a lot of road deaths caused by motorcyclists. The idea would be to set a target for the reduction of motorcyclists dying within the next two or three years; this isn’t something we have done, but it’s something we need to start doing,” he said.

Since the passage of the regulations to the new Road Traffic Act, many Jamaicans have been questioning when the law would be rolled out on a wide scale. Transport Minister Audley Shaw had promised that one of the major planks of the system would be the installation of cameras to identify motorists who breach the traffic laws so that tickets for the offences can be sent to them. It is understood that the Government is to enter into arrangements with two entities to provide the service.

According to Dr Jones, a number of things that are in the pipeline will result in significant changes, including widespread roll-out of an efficient and robust deterrent regime, inclusive of ticketing, and a demerit system.

“One is that the new system being used by the police to write tickets is going to be rolled out across the country, so you’ll have a much more efficient way of writing tickets. Secondly, by next year we should have, barring all eventualities, a functioning efficient and robust deterrent system, which is the [introduction of] demerit points. For the ticketing system, the end point is the issue of a warrant, and for the demerit system the end point is the suspension of your licence if you accumulate too many demerit points. So the combination of those things, if they’re on track for next year, should result in significant change,” he explained.

Dr Jones noted, too, that the ministries of transport and national security are advanced in their work to tie the offence of speeding with the ticketing system, and to make the transfer of data between the police and the tax office seamless.

“That has made the data exchange much more efficient. That data also go to the courts, and that is reasonably efficient at this time,” he said, noting, however, that there are some kinks to be ironed out.

However, he said because the uploading of the data in a manner that allows courts staff and judges to use it properly isn’t yet complete, there is some element of doubt for some judges regarding issuing warrants for motorists for unpaid fines.

“They don’t want for somebody having paid the fine for that information not to be shared with them and they go ahead and sign a warrant for somebody’s arrest,” he said.

In the meantime, he said a new national road safety policy has already been approved by Cabinet and once properly funded, a national strategic plan of action will give the country a goal to work towards, in order to meet the United Nations/World Health Organization target of reducing road fatalities by 50 per cent in another eight years.

Dr Jones noted that in order to meet this goal, road deaths would have to be reduced to approximately 216 people up to 2030. Road deaths have not dipped below 300 since 2012, when 260 people died in traffic incidents, and since 2019, those numbers have surpassed 400, with 440 individuals perishing in 2019; 433 in 2020; and 487 in 2021.