Andrew Wildes, Gleaner Writer
Executive director of the Road Safety Council, Paula Fletcher, speaking yesterday during a meeting of the council at the Courtleigh Hotel, New Kingston. - RUDOLPH BROWN/CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
PAULA FLETCHER, executive director of the National Road Safety Council, yesterday said the council would be pushing to have jaywalking legislation enacted early next year.
Mrs. Fletcher made the announcement while speaking at a meeting of the council at the Courtleigh Hotel, New Kingston, where the council also launched its new website.
Jaywalking has become a critical problem in recent years and, according to Mark Sanders of the National Works Agency, "pedestrians are not following the instructions of the traffic light. They're crossing when the light is telling them not to cross and that is interfering with the traffic flow."
Jaywalking, according to Mrs. Fletcher, is crossing the road in a way that is detrimental to both the pedestrian and other users of the road. She noted that although the law to address the matter is needed urgently, facilities, such as proper pedestrian crossings need to be put in place for the safety of pedestrians.
PEDESTRIAN-FRIENDLY
Essentially, the road needs to be more pedestrian friendly before pedestrians can be asked to take responsibility for their actions.
The council noted that there has been a steady decline in road accidents and fatalities over the past years. Up to yesterday, 297 people had been killed on the roads, 23 fewer than last year's total. The Christmas season has traditionally seen an upsurge in the carnage on the nation's streets, and there has been a 13 per cent increase in road fatalities for December 2005, when compared with the same month last year. According to the council, pedestrians account for the highest number of road fatalities each year, and in 75 per cent of all cases, such deaths can be attributed to irresponsible action on the part of the pedestrian.
Information Minister Burchell Whiteman, who also spoke at the council meeting, encouraged road safety consciousness for the season. "Nobody knows what the country loses, what a family loses, when particularly a child is taken from us because of irresponsible conduct on the road," he said.
