Traffic Fatalities Outpace Murders in 2024, Prompting New Police Initiatives

Police Commissioner Chester Williams has reported that for 2024 there have been more road traffic fatalities than murders.  It is an alarming situation that he says will bring changes in enforcement as well as collaboration between the police and national transport.  He additionally noted that the majority of deaths in road incidents involved motorcycles.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police: “I think this is the first time that we have a fatal traffic accident count which is greater than murder count. I think we’re around 118 traffic fatalities for this year, and like you rightly said, it is an issue that we have to find a way to deal with in 2025. Accidents, more so involving motorcycles, and just yesterday in my conference I told my commanders that we need to see how we can work more closely with the Department of Transport as well as the local traffic departments across the country to see how we can minimize these occurrences. A number of families have lost loved ones on our highways. We can’t continue that way in 2025 at all. And so for 2025 we’ll see significant changes. As Renee was saying earlier, we need to see more enforcement on our highways. I think for far too long we have allowed these minor traffic violations to go without being addressed and so we need to ensure we start from there. The riding without no helmet, the riding three on a motorcycle, the overtaking on the left-hand side, the riding on the wrong side of the road, all of these things need to be addressed if we want to make significant changes for 2025 where those accidents are concerned.”

With his participation in Love FM’s Year in Review on Tuesday, Commissioner Williams gave insight on several investigation as well as other issues of national concern.  We will be sharing these with you over the next few days.