Jamaica Road Fatalities Reach 103 After Westmoreland Motorcycle Crashes

Jamaica’s traffic death count has entered triple digits for the year, even while the pace of fatal crashes remains well below last year’s level.

Police figures show that two separate collisions in Westmoreland on Wednesday left an 18-year-old motorcycle rider and a 25-year-old pillion passenger dead, moving the national total for the year to 103.

The latest statistics indicate that fatalities are 43 lower than at the same point last year, representing a 29 per cent reduction.

March remains the least deadly month recorded so far this year, with 17 road deaths. Police data said that figure was a 100 per cent fall when measured against the same month last year. April, by contrast, has produced the year’s highest monthly count to date, with 26 deaths.

According to a police report, the teenager died about 11:30 pm on the Petersfield main road in a collision involving a motorcycle that had no registration plate.

The report listed “An animal in the carriageway, inclusive of bolt horse,” along with inattention or diverted attention and excessive speed, as possible factors in the crash.