By Glenroy Sinclair, Staff ReporterTHE DEATHS of more than 15 people in separate motor vehicle accidents on the Washington Boulevard in Kingston over the past 13 months has prompted the traffic police to monitor the busy thoroughfare more closely.
Among the latest victims were two people who were mowed down last weekend. According to police reports, on Friday night a man believed to have been of unsound mind was hit by a white Hiace minibus that was travelling towards Half-Way Tree.
The incident occurred about 11:00 p.m. near the Washington Boulevard and Davidson Avenue intersection. The victim, who died on the spot, remained unidentified up to yesterday.
Twenty-four hours later, another person was killed in a fatal motor vehicle accident on Washington Boulevard. Police said the victim whose identity was not ascertained, was about 75.
It's reported that at about 9:00 p.m. the pedestrian, who was clad in blue jeans and a blue T-shirt, was crossing the road in the vicinity of Boulevard Super Centre when he was hit by a Nissan Sunny motor car travelling towards Spanish Town. The driver of the vehicle, Omar Lewis, was warned of prosecution in the presence of his attorney-at-law.
On October 6 last year, five people returning from church were killed in a traffic accident on Washington Boulevard. It happened at the intersection with Duhaney Drive and Bob Marley Boulevard.
In another incident on Sunday, 13-year-old Kemar Clarke of Shortwood Lane, Kingston 8, was killed in a hit-and-run accident. He was walking along Grants Pen Road when he was hit by a motor vehicle, which did not stop. He was taken to the University of the West Indies Hospital (UHWI) by a passing motorist but later pronounced dead.
Deputy Superintendent Claude Reynolds, Operation's Officer at the Elletson Road-based Traffic Division, said since the renovation of the Washington Boulevard strip, which runs from Dunrobin Avenue to Six Miles, the police had received frequent reports of accidents.
"We have increased the police presence and this has worked. But whilst the police are there the motorists will conform and when they are absent they return to their old ways," the officer said.
Also on Saturday, a 32-year-old man perished in a motor vehicle accident on the Bloody Bay main road in Hanover. Police reports are that Oliver Pinchon, a resident of Orange Bay, was driving his Mitsubishi Lancer motor car when it overturned and burst into flames.
The head of the Old Harbour Police Division, Deputy Superintendent Samuel Anderson, pointed to a number of frequent accidents on the Old Harbour bypass.
He has blamed careless driving by some motorists for the frequent accidents.
"The traffic signs are there but the motorists continue to disobey them. However, since the start of the year we have not had any fatal accidents," DSP Anderson said.
