PM says dedicated funding needed for road safety campaign

   

Prime Minister Andrew Holness has acknowledged the need for dedicated funding for a national public education campaign on road safety, with the number of vehicles in the country projected to increase over the next few years.

 

Mr. Holness said the database on operational vehicles shows that there are more than 600,000 vehicles, which suggests a significant increase in the last three years.

 

The Prime Minister said public education needs to be intensified to focus on driving culture.

 

"What is happening is that you are having more vehicles and therefore more drivers and the driving culture, which needs to support that level of vehicular movement in the country - where safety is an ultimate goal for our drivers - that is not necessarily the culture that is widespread amongst our drivers, particularly those who are operating in public transportation, those who are operating heavy vehicles. And so we recognise the need that there is this shift, not just in the number of vehicles, but also in the roadways," he acknowledged.

 

Mr. Holness said drivers will be educated on how to safely maneuver various types of roads. 

 

"We have built several hundred miles of new roadways and new driving surfaces that some people are just not trained and don't have the driving culture to operate vehicles on these new road surfaces and the new highways that are being built," he reasoned.

 

The high-level public education campaign is to be funded by intake from traffic ticket fines.