Road safety officials are warning that Jamaica could be heading towards another surge in traffic fatalities after the number of people who died in crashes over the past week rose to twice the daily average recorded for the year.

Speaking at the National Road Safety Council’s mid-year review of the National Road Safety Strategy at the Office of the Commissioner of Police on Tuesday, Director of the Mona GeoInformatics Institute at The University of the West Indies, Dr Parris Lyew-Ayee Jr, said the recent trend has triggered concern, despite the country’s overall reduction in road deaths this year.

“For the year, we are seeing about 0.84 people dying per day. That is down compared to last year and the year before. But what is of concern is that for the last seven days, we’ve seen 1.71 people dying per day,” Lyew-Ayee said.