The National Road Safety Council (NRSC) is leveraging cutting-edge technology and data-driven strategies to strengthen proactive road safety measures and combat Jamaica’s increasing traffic-related injuries and fatalities. 

This initiative is supported by regional and international partners, including the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), the United Nations Road Safety Fund (UNRSF), and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

Dr Lucien Jones, vice chairman of the NRSC, made the disclosure ahead of Sunday’s (November 16) commemoration of World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims.

Under the United Nations Road Safety Fund and PAHO initiative, over 200 Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) traffic officers have been trained on how to use iMAAP, a world-leading web-based accident analysis software platform designed to accelerate the analysis of traffic data into recommendations and actions. This training advances Jamaica’s commitment to cut road traffic deaths and injuries by at least 50 per cent by 2030. 

The NRSC noted that iMAAP software updates released earlier this year have addressed training gaps and will be leveraged for improved processing, reducing lost paperwork and delayed reports while enabling immediate access to post-crash data. This three-year project which was launched in January 2023 is valued at over $60 million. It reflects a major commitment from PAHO and the World Health Organization, the NRSC, the Island Traffic Authority (ITA), the Public Safety & Traffic Enforcement Branch (PSTEB), and key government ministries. 

“We continue to move away from responding to crashes to being more proactive in helping to prevent them. That’s the difference the data will make across Jamaica,” said Jones. “This technology gives us the precision to act before tragedy strikes.”

Paula Fletcher, executive director of the NRSC, noted, “The initiative also enhances speed enforcement with modern detection devices, strengthens our breathalyser programme, and supports better post-crash care, tools that directly help prevent crashes and save lives.”

PSTEB recorded 326 lives lost in 286 fatal crashes this year. Fatalities increased by three per cent when compared to the previous year, while fatal crashes increased by four per cent when compared with the similar period in 2024. Vulnerable road users across the island (pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, and pillion passengers) account for 59 per cent of fatalities, underscoring the urgent need for targeted protection measures.

“So far, 100 motorcyclists have died, and since Hurricane Melissa, six of the eight persons who have died on our roads were motorcyclists. It is in this context that we are promoting the work of the NHWC, funded by the FIA Foundation,” noted Jones. “It is critical to this country that the work of this Coalition succeeds. If we can drive down the number of people who are dying from motorcycle injuries, then we would have made a significant advance in protecting people from dying on our roads, and from costing the country so much money, and stymieing our development, and wreaking havoc, and grief and pain in communities, especially at a time when we are mourning the loss and the devastation of what happened during Hurricane Melissa.”

With funding from the CDB, the International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) was engaged in partnership with the ITA to evaluate critical stretches of the national road network and assign star ratings ranging from one to five.

“Under this programme, there has been an assessment of key corridors around the island, identifying high-risk roads and providing a clear pathway to upgrade them to safer three-star standards, or better,” said Fletcher. “As we mark this World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, we remember, we support, and we act.”