KINGSTON, Jamaica — Claudine Allen, general manager of the JN Foundation, is urging government to move swiftly to enforce Jamaica's new motorcycle helmet standard, and strengthen inspections at the nation's ports to prevent substandard and counterfeit helmets from entering the country. Speaking at a National Road Safety Council press conference held at the Office of the Police Commissioner recently, Allen said stronger enforcement of helmet standards is essential if Jamaica is to reverse the growing number of motorcycle-related deaths, the JN Foundation said in a release. Although the Road Traffic Act and Regulation, as well as the Jamaican helmet standard, all require motorcycle riders and pillion passengers to wear helmets, Allen argued that legislation alone cannot save lives.
A country may require riders to wear helmets, but if those helmets are poor quality or fail to meet recognised safety standards, the law cannot achieve its intended purpose," she said. Allen noted that the Bureau of Standards Jamaica's launch of the Jamaica Standard Specification – Protective Helmets for Road Users in March this year, marked a major step towards establishing, for the first time, a nationally recognised benchmark for motorcycle helmet safety. However, she stressed that the standard must now be fully operationalised through coordinated enforcement by several government agencies.
"Operationalising the Jamaican helmet standard means ensuring that only certified helmets are imported, stocked, sold and worn in Jamaica," she said. "It means strengthening market surveillance so that counterfeit helmets and substandard items are identified and removed from shelves or stopped at our borders." She said the Jamaica Customs Agency will play a critical role in ensuring that every shipment declared as motorcycle helmets complies with the country's safety requirements before entering the local market. Her call comes against the backdrop of alarming motorcycle fatality statistics which show that from 2021 to 2025, 752 motorcycle drivers and pillion riders were killed in crashes, accounting for about 35 per cent of the country's 2,139 road fatalities during that period- well above the global average for motorcycle deaths, she pointed out.
According to estimates from the Island Traffic Authority and Jamaica Constabulary Force, more than 90 per cent of t…
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