Yorks woman becomes this year’s first road fatality; Traffic Department head calls for road users to pay keener attention

A Yorks Village resident has become the country’s first road fatality for 2022.

The Police are reporting that the 29-year-old woman, Lashauna Bridgen, a Jamaican, was struck by a car while crossing from East to West on Friars Hill Road near the Village Walk mall.

Reports say the vehicle was travelling from south to north on the said road when the fatal accident occurred at around 5:45 a.m. on Thursday, January 20.

The woman reportedly had been dressed entirely in black as she was out walking.

Video footage shows the driver on the ground being attended to by an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), while the victim is also being attended to and placed on a stretcher.

The Police say the woman, an employee of Hawkeye Security, was transported to the Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre by the Emergency Medical Service and was pronounced dead by a medical doctor at about 10:23 a.m. 

The Traffic Department is conducting further investigations into the incident.

Meanwhile, it was only last week that the Head of the Traffic Department, Assistant Superintendent of Police Rodney Ellis, expressed concern over the number of accidents that involved pedestrians in 2021.

During a press conference, Ellis said that members of the public need to pay keener attention to their surroundings while using the country’s roadways.

Meanwhile the Traffic Department Head is reporting a reduction in accidents last year, with 2,172 incidents, compared to 2,228 in 2020.  There were seven fatal accidents last year, compared to four the year before.

Ellis says the absence of seatbelts was a contributing factor in several of these accidents.

The senior officer is, therefore, calling for a tightening of the laws and an increase in the penalties for not wearing seatbelts.