JAMAICA: Road Safety Unit Embarks on ‘Stop Di Foolishness’ Campaign

#Kingston, September 29, 2021 – The Road Safety Unit in the Ministry of Transport and Mining (MTM) is embarking on a road-safety public awareness campaign, dubbed, ‘Stop di Foolishness’.

Speaking at a JIS ‘Think Tank’ on Wednesday (September 29), Director of the Road Safety Unit, Deidre Hudson-Sinclair, explained that the campaign seeks to encourage all road users to practise good road-safety habits.

“We are appealing to everyone to use the road with discernment and to move cautiously on our roadways,” the Director said.

“Our target areas include the use of protective devices for motorcyclists and for private motor-vehicle passengers and drivers as well,” she added.  Mrs. Hudson-Sinclair said it is important for persons to use the roadway carefully and to think about their actions prior to movement and try to preserve life, “and that is the real aim that we really want persons to think about when they are actually going on the roadways”.

The Director said that one of the issues that the RSU picked up is that during the pandemic, with curfews and no-movement days, there was an assumption that less traffic, less movement and less interaction would have a knock-on effect in terms of reduction in road crashes and fatalities overall.   She indicated that this, however, has proven not to be the case, as there has been a six per cent increase in road fatalities over a similar period.

Mrs. Hudson-Sinclair said that her team has looked at the data and recognised certain points of interest on which the Unit will be focusing.

“We will be looking at how we can actively engage our citizens and how we can reduce the number of injuries and fatalities that are occurring on our roads,” the Director pointed out.

She noted that bikers account for 34 per cent of road fatalities and that one of the major factors of crashes is speeding, “so we really want to address this with ‘Stop the Foolishness’ campaign”.

Pedestrians, who represent 20 per cent of fatalities, are another road-user group that the campaign is targeting.  The Road Safety Director said that at some point, every road user is a pedestrian and that for pedestrians utilising the roadway, “we want to appeal to them to be vigilant, and the ‘Stop the Foolishness’ campaign really appeals to the vigilance of children and the elderly and all pedestrians to utilise the road carefully”.

“Be alert, don’t cross from corners, walk facing the traffic, so we can see what we’re doing, wear light-coloured and reflective clothing at nights,” she advised.

“We ask persons when walking or driving at nights to practise extreme caution, because visual acuity is lessened at night and we want persons to really be careful when they are manoeuvring the roadway,” the Road Safety Director urged.

She explained that the ‘Foolishness’ in the campaign title refers to the things that road users do that endanger their lives, learning correct behaviours and good practices and then use those, so while pointing out the bad we will also be recognising good and safe driving practices.

The campaign will utilise television, radio and social media highlighting the use of protective devices, pedestrian vigilance, night driving and helmet use.

Release: JIS

Contact: Peta-Gay Hodges