Road deaths climb during curfew hours

A staggering 91 deaths have resulted from crashes on the nation's roads that have taken place during curfew hours. The majority of these deaths, according to Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Gary McKenzie, resulted from speeding.

"We have had a few where motorcyclists, in particular, have failed to negotiate corners and so on, meaning they have failed to keep to their left. Predominantly, they occur because of speeding and drivers losing control of the vehicle," McKenzie, head of the Public Safety Traffic Enforcement Branch, told THE STAR.

Nightly curfews have been a regular feature of Jamaican life since the country recorded its first case of COVID-19 March 2020. Prime Minister Andrew Holness said that the curfews are intended to keep Jamaicans out of the public space at nights in a bid to reduce the spread of the highly contagious virus.

McKenzie said the majority of the collisions take place well into the curfew hours, between 9 p.m. and 12 a.m., or early in the morning.

"The police are not oblivious to the fact that you will have a lot of traffic closer to the time when the curfew time comes in because everyone is trying to get home, or to get to where they are going. So there is a lot of traffic on the road and there is really very little opportunity in most areas to speed. It is when people are travelling well with the hours -- three, four hours after the start of the curfew -- that we find we have these crashes," McKenzie said.

Some 310 persons have been killed in road crashes since the start of the year. This represents a 10 per cent increase when compared with similar period in 2020. A third of the fatalities have occurred during curfew hours.

McKenzie said that one of the things that the police do within the curfew is to occupy main roads as much as possible in a bid to slow down traffic and to make sure that people are obeying the order, which has been made under the Disaster Risk Management Act.

CRASH HOTSPOTS

"The question may be asked, why is it the police are not making more of an effort to prevent these, the fact of the matter is that efforts have been made. We have noted that a number of these crashes, they really are not occurring at the traditional crash hotspots which make it more difficult," McKenzie said.

The senior cop said as a result of this increased police presence coupled with the inevitable rush for people to get to their destinations before the curfew, there will be a build-up of traffic.