Daraine Luton, Staff Reporter

An emotional Dorothy Johnson after seeing the body of her sister, Paulette Johnson, who perished in a car accident on the toll road in the vicinity of Bushy Park, St Catherine. The accident claimed the lives of six persons on September 24 last year. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer

IT IS said that at the inquest into the world's first traffic death in 1896, the coroner remarked, "This must never happen again."

More than 112 years later, emergency medical technicians, doctors and coroners across the world have thousands of motor-vehicle injuries and deaths to deal with daily.

The United Nations (UN) has said 50 million people are injured and more than 1.2 million killed in traffic accidents worldwide annually.

More men dying

According to the UN, road accidents are the leading cause of death among people aged 10-24.

In Jamaica, 275 persons have died in crashes since January. Young males, particularly the 25-29 age cohort, continue to be marked for death on Jamaican roads.

As at October 1, 194 males have died as a result of motor-vehicle crashes, far outstripping females - 53. In fact, males are nearly four times more likely to die in crashes than women. There is a 78 per cent probability that males will die in accidents.

"The statistics indicate that we are losing our young men," said Paula Fletcher, executive director of the National Road Safety Council.

Fletcher noted that egomaniacal young males are sometimes inclined to speed and drive recklessly.

"Our young men are being encouraged to take greater care on the road. They must understand that while they may be taking chances and are getting away with them, there may come a day when there will be consequences for their actions," Fletcher said.

Over the last six years, an average of 23 males in the age cohort 25-29 have perished as result of crashes.