Road Safety Unit plans standardised driving programme
6,357 persons have been killed in motor vehicle crashes between 2003 and 2020.
Director of the Road Safety Unit Deidre Hudson- Sinclair is banking on the implementation of a standardised driving programme to help reduce the number of road crashes in Jamaica.
Parliament in 2019 passed a new Road Traffic Act, which calls for the licensing and regulation of driving instructors and driving schools, and the setting of minimum standards for the operation of driving instructors and driving schools.
“We really don’t have a certified driving instructor. We have driving schools, some of them are certified, some of them are not. There is no formalised certified curriculum that the government has that is standardised,” Hudson-Sinclair said.
The Road Safety Unit head told THE
WEEKEND STAR that her team is working overtime to get that aspect of the legislation that deals with the regulation of driver training into force.
“There are multiples happening right now as it relates to the act, the regulation, and also the general policy that is underpinned by the act. So, we’re going along because we can’t do it all at once. It’s gonna take some time, but we first need to look at the act, ensure that it is ratified, and the best way to do that is to make sure that the regulations are done and up to date,” she said. Since the start of the year, there have been 353 fatalities in road crashes. This is nine more than the 344 recorded for the corresponding period last year. Data from the Road Traffic Unit indicates that 6,357 persons have been killed in motor vehicle crashes between 2003 and 2020. An additional 353 have died on the roads this year and projections are that total road deaths could reach 453 by year’s end. Another 859 road deaths are projected over the next two years. Hudson-Sinclair said that while there are a myriad of reasons for the high number of road crashes, the main ones have to do with poor usage of the roads, such as speeding.
“There are a lot of things that really need in-depth social investigation, which would require a national survey to see and get into the idea of what are the drivers’ perspectives and behaviours. But you know, behaviours are not the only contributor. We have the roadway itself. A lot of our roadways, we don’t recognise the conditions that our roads are in and drive for those particular things,” she said.
“Our own culture when it comes to safety as a whole needs to be assessed. We need to put our interests first, not just getting to where we’re going quickly, but managing how we get there and we do it safely.”
Hudson-Sinclair is convinced that the standardised driving programme would go a far way in making the nation’s roads safer.
“We need a programme because you can’t close people off from doing their business, but what they’re teaching and how they’re teaching needs to be standardised, just like the Ministry of Education has a curriculum,” she said.
“We have driving schools, some of them are certified, some of them are not. So, sometimes you have a little guy who says, ‘well you know, I’ve been driving for 10 years and never had an accident. I have a spare car that my brother sent for me, let me teach people to drive’. That happens or we learn from our parents, and then you do a one class with a guy and then you’re out. So, there is no formalised certified curriculum that the government has that is standardised,” Hudson-Sinclair added.