New Initiatives Coming For Road Safety Soon

Kingston, June 11, 2009

To all News Editors:

New Initiatives for Road Safety Coming Soon

Chairman of the National Road Safety Council, Prime Minster Bruce Golding, says that new initiatives to improve road safety were coming soon.

He was addressing a brief ceremony during a Council meeting that honoured media houses that have gone the extra mile to support the Council's efforts to reduce road fatalities.

The Prime Minister said, "Today the meeting focussed on important changes that are being made in the legislation in the way in which the powers are enforced...we are convening another meeting of the Council which would normally not meet so soon again but we are going to be meeting again at the end of July in order to take stock. There are some important new initiatives to help to reduce the fatalities on our roads."

The initiatives will include amendments to the Road Traffic Act to allow for the application of technology and other legislation that impact on road use; the start a new system for the issuing and management of tickets and better signage.

The Council also gained an important endorsement from the world's fastest man, Usain Bolt, who survived from a high speed car crash on the toll road earlier this year. Olympian Melaine Walker supported the Council the year before following her own pre-Olympics crash on Old Hope Road.

Speaking about the importance of the media the Prime Minister said, "They would not be able to get very far if they were not able to count on the support of the media. It is important and commendable that they honour those media houses those media houses who have gone the extra mile to give life to the work of the Council."

He also noted that the work was far from over, "We did not make our target lasts year, we were endeavouring to keep road fatalities down under 300, we are again muscling up again this year...there have been too many accidents that have involved multiple fatalities...there is much more work that we have to do. It is one of the crusades that we can never tire," he said.

Media houses that received acknowledgements for supporting the NRSC were the Jamaica Information Service, TVJ, RJR, JNN, CVM, Hype TV, Power 106, the Jamaica Observer and the Sunday Herald.