Jamaicans being trained in traffic crash investigation
MINISTER OF Transport and Mining Robert Montague, says that the ministry is working closely with the Caribbean Maritime University (CMU) to ensure that Jamaicans can be trained in black-box analysis and traffic crash investigation by June 2018.
This, he said, would give stakeholders such as insurance companies, private- and publicsector investigators, and vehicle fleet managers a better understanding of the circumstances leading up to fatal road crashes.
“Jamaica will be, in the very near future, providing the world with highly trained and skilled traffic accident investigators, analysts, and reconstructionists,” the minister told the gathering at the 7th International Road Federation Caribbean Regional Congress, held at the Hilton Rose Hall Hotel in St James on Tuesday.
“We have been analysing the black boxes of motor vehicles involved in traffic crashes, and the information gleaned in some cases is heart-wrenching. There have been cases with drivers travelling at speeds above 122 kilometres per hour and executing manoeuvres that proved perilous,” he added.
Montague added that the sudden nature and small time frame in which traffic crashes occur “makes it difficult for persons not to be injured if the motor vehicles are travelling at exponential speeds”.
The minister said that it is intolerable for persons to be travelling at enormous speeds when there are designated speed limits along the road network.
“As a Government, we take road safety very seriously. We are making every effort to ensure we are able to determine and combat the causes of traffic crashes. Currently, we use the ‘Human-Environment-Vehicle Model’ to ensure that we can ascertain trends in the traffic environment so that the requisite measures can be developed and deployed,” he said.