The Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) has for over two decades, been relied on to transport large groups of people and carry our children to and from school. Our commuters are primarily from the working class and those sections of the population deemed most vulnerable. While safety is our utmost priority, we cannot predict collisions, accidents or incidents example stone throwing. However, we can and have been engaged in several mitigation programmes to reduce accident numbers.
Since April 2017 to March 2022, we have had a total of 3, 963 accidents which is inclusive of accidents where third parties are at fault and/or contributed to the accidents. Please see breakdown of the number of accidents in each year below.
- April 2017 to March 2018: 1,049
- April 2018 to March 2019: 1,033
- April 2019 to March 2020: 891
- April 2020 to March 2021: 543
- April 2021 to March 2022: 447
An analysis of the data reveals a few things, firstly, that since April 2017 to March 2022, there has been a 57% reduction in accidents. Secondly, year over year, the number of accidents have been trending down from 1,049 in 2017 to 1,033 (16 less accidents) in 2018. Between 2019 and 2020, there was a 33% decline in accidents with 891 and 543 respectively. While for 2021 to March 2022, there were 447 accidents.
Corporate Communications Manager Cecil Thoms says “we are coming from a period where the number of accidents was particularly high but have since stabilized, which suggests we are doing something right. We have implemented several mitigation programmes which are bearing fruit and we will continue on this thrust. These include but are not limited to constant training and retraining, one on one dialogue with members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force on Road Safety, internal accident reductions sessions as well as applying disciplinary sanctions where possible. Our goal is to not have any accidents, but this is not an ideal world and so from time to time, there will be. Nonetheless, we will continue to do all we can to preserve life and property and encourage road users and other motorists to do the same.”
