JCF PSTEB outlines data-led push to cut road deaths and improve traffic flow

Senior Superintendent Lloyd Darby and Senior Superintendent Winchester Watson say the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s Public Safety and Traffic Enforcement Branch (PSTEB) is expanding data-driven operations to reduce road deaths, ease congestion and support public order across the island. Darby said the branch, headquartered at 16 Lower Elletson Road, has about 1,500 members and now includes traffic enforcement, highway patrol, public safety teams, resort policing, beat patrols and the mounted troop.

Darby said PSTEB, formed in 2018, was built around four divisions and later expanded in 2024 under the current police commissioner with the Beat Officer Patrol Division and the Mounted Troop Division under its command. He said the branch has no fixed geography and supports divisions islandwide through planned operations, daily patrols and quick-response deployments.

Watson said operational priorities include keeping junctions clear and maintaining steady traffic movement, especially in the Corporate Area. He pointed to poor road markings, faded stop bars, damaged roads, potholes and driver indiscipline as key contributors to gridlock, particularly during rainfall. He said officers generally prioritise traffic management during peak periods and focus enforcement in off-peak hours to avoid worsening congestion.

On fatalities, Darby said Jamaica has gone below 300 road deaths only seven times in 50 years, last doing so in 2012 with 260 deaths. He said PSTEB’s focused deterrence model targets high-risk users and locations identified by data, with motorcyclists accounting for roughly 30 to 32 per cent of fatalities yearly. The branch aims to reduce motorcycle deaths by 50 per cent and other vulnerable road-user deaths by 10 per cent, which officers estimate could bring annual deaths to about 280.

He reported 33 motorcyclist deaths so far this year, lower than 46 at the same point last year, and said the trend has been declining since 2021. Watson said western parishes, including Westmoreland, St James and St Elizabeth, remain major concern areas, and argued that stronger legal consequences could improve compliance, including seizure powers in helmet breaches.

The officers said enforcement activity has increased sharply, with nearly 400,000 tickets issued since the start of the year, about 70,000 more than the corresponding period last year, including more than 66,000 speeding tickets. They also reported 76 arrests for driving over the alcohol limit versus 30 at the same point last year, after more than 10,000 checks. Darby said body-worn cameras, daily briefings and complaint reviews are being used to improve police-public interactions and standardise enforcement decisions.