Tourism worker dies in early-morning Runaway Bay crash

St. Ann police are investigating a fatal motor vehicle crash that claimed the life of a tourism worker in Runaway Bay early Friday morning.

The deceased has been identified as Linworth Fisher, 31, of Bellaire in Runaway Bay. Police say that at about 2:30 a.m., Fisher was driving a 1997 Honda Civic westbound along the Runaway Bay main road with two passengers when he reportedly lost control. The car overturned, struck a fence, and came to a stop against a utility pole. Fisher sustained severe head injuries and was pronounced dead at hospital. The two passengers suffered minor injuries.

St. Ann businessman Philpott Mitchell said speeding was a major factor and urged motorists to drive carefully in built-up zones where new commercial sites, including gas stations and a KFC, have opened. He suggested the driver may have been coming from a party and lost control. Investigations into the crash are ongoing.

The fatality comes as the National Road Safety Council grapples with thin resources to curb dangerous driving, Jamaica’s second leading cause of death. Chaired by Prime Minister Dr. Andrew Holness, with Dr. Lucien Jones as vice president, the council has only three permanent staff — an executive director, a programmes director, and an administrative assistant.

Jones said the body cannot properly fulfil its mandate without stronger staffing and funding, noting that Suriname’s road safety council has 15 people despite being established after Jamaica’s. The NRSC office at 145 Maxfield Avenue in St. Andrew was abandoned last year after severe structural problems at a building also used by the Island Traffic Authority and the Ministry of Transport’s road safety unit. Only the ITA still occupies the site; NRSC staff have been working remotely.

Transport Minister Daryl Vaz did not address the skeletal staffing when asked, but said a national road safety public education and public relations campaign is moving through procurement. The United Nations General Assembly has urged countries to cut road traffic deaths and injuries by at least half by 2030. As of Wednesday, July 22, Jamaica had recorded 179 road crash deaths. Ms. Fletcher cautioned that with four years left, the island faces a numerical target of 217 fatalities and risks falling behind.

Council funding has risen from $24.2 million in fiscal year 2023-2024 to $33.8 million for 2026-2027. An August planning committee is expected to steer policies that expand operational capacity, with officials hoping a budget session will also support a credible appeal for more staff.

Separately, St. Mary councillor Dorine Hutchinson of the Carron Hall division warned that residents relying on a parish council spring have gone without chlorinated water for two years. She said officers cannot reach the source because of poor road conditions and that an assessment put repairs at about $60 million — a sum she called unrealistic for the small rural road. Hutchinson said residents were not told the water was no longer being treated, even though chlorination officers still visit from time to time, and argued her division is being undermined as people need potable water.