NRSC gets funding for speed monitoring devices, breathalysers for JCF
THE NATIONAL Road Safety Council (NRSC) has received funding of US$400,000 to procure speed monitoring devices and breath-testing equipment for the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), to assist in reducing road fatalities.
Programme coordinator of the NRSC, Victor Anderson, says that some of the money will also be used for administration of the project, improvement in data capture for road crashes, improvement of injury-reporting systems, as well as training of officers.
“The National Road Safety Council, through the Pan American Health Organization, applied to the United Nations Road Safety Fund last year and received some funding. A big part of that funding is to help equip the police with additional devices for use in speed monitoring and in breath analysis (breathalysers). We are hoping that the police will be put in a position to have some additional devices this year. We are now gathering the specifications to begin the procurement process,” he said.
He pointed out that the NRSC is seeking to acquire state-of-theart speed-monitoring devices that, once it detects speeding, will be able to print a report that includes a picture of the vehicle and record the speed at which the driver is going.
Anderson said the procurement of breathalysers will assist in reducing road crashes caused by persons driving under the influence.
“We are also hoping to equip the police with a few devices for breath testing that will allow evidence to be produced, right on the spot. Currently, if a breath test is done, the device they use is only a screening device that indicates there is alcohol on the breath to a certain extent. But what has to go to court is a report that records, specifically, the amount of alcohol that is in the breath at the time, and for that the offender has to be taken to the police station,” he said.
“We think that should help in dealing with persons who are drinking and driving,” Anderson added.