Road deaths over past week double yearly daily average, raising concerns

Road safety officials are warning that Jamaica could be heading towards another surge in traffic fatalities after the number of people who died in crashes over the past week rose to twice the daily average recorded for the year.

Speaking at the National Road Safety Council’s mid-year review of the National Road Safety Strategy at the Office of the Commissioner of Police on Tuesday, Director of the Mona GeoInformatics Institute at The University of the West Indies, Dr Parris Lyew-Ayee Jr, said the recent trend has triggered concern, despite the country’s overall reduction in road deaths this year.

“For the year, we are seeing about 0.84 people dying per day. That is down compared to last year and the year before. But what is of concern is that for the last seven days, we’ve seen 1.71 people dying per day,” Lyew-Ayee said.

“The death rate is twice the average for the year. That starts to set off alarm bells for us. We now need to stop that before it gets out of control, and we don’t want to wait until it’s too late.”

He noted that the current trend is particularly worrying as Jamaica approaches August, which historically has been a high-risk period for fatal crashes.

“That was a peak period last year, and we’re looking August in the face right now,” he said, warning that officials are concerned about what could happen if urgent action is not taken.

Lyew-Ayee said the council’s analysis also shows a pattern of increased road deaths around public holidays, with fatalities typically rising in the days immediately before and after occasions such as New Year’s Day, Labour Day, Christmas, and the Emancipation and Independence holidays.

He further noted that June and July are the only months so far this year in which Jamaica has averaged more than one road death per day.

In every other month of 2026, the average has remained below one death daily.

Lyew-Ayee said the National Road Safety Council is continuously analysing crash trends using seven-day, 30-day and month-over-month data to identify emerging patterns and intervene early.

“We’re not going to wait until December 2026 to fix this,” he said, stressing that the objective is to act before the recent increase in road fatalities develops into a sustained upward trend.

The concern comes as fatal crashes continue to claim lives across Jamaica.

On Monday night, Irie Blake, 19, a mason of Sandy Bay, Hanover, died from injuries sustained in a two-vehicle collision along the Orange Bay main road in Green Island.

Less than 24 hours later, on Tuesday night, Dante Griffiths, 42, of Sign, Irwin district, St James, was killed in a single-vehicle crash in Summit, Ironshore, near the Texaco service station, underscoring the continuing toll on Jamaica’s roads.

- Andre Williams

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