HEAD of the Police Traffic Division, Senior Superintendent Calvin Allen, is warning motorists against drunken driving and excessive speeding this festive season.

The warning from the senior cop comes as he cited the Christmas season as the period that generally sees a major spike in road crashes, mainly as a result of people consuming too much alcohol or driving well over the speed limit.

He said there will be an increase in the number of traffic cops on the streets, who will be equipped with portable breathalysers in their bid to clamp down on offending motorists.

He said that drivers who are found to have a blood alcohol level above the allowable limit will be taken to a police station, where an Intoxilyzer 8000 machine will be used to generate a report for evidential purposes, and an arrest made.

The National Road Safety Council (NRSC) has thrown its support behind the efforts of the police.

According to Paula Fletcher, executive director of the NRSC, the council is also highly concerned about the major increase in crashes and fatalities which involve motorbikes since the start of 2015, especially in western Jamaica. There have been 103 motorbike fatalities in comparison to 57 in 2014 and 51 in 2013.

“Statistics recorded since the start of the year have indicated that most of the motorbike fatalities occurred in the western end of the island. We care about the motorbike drivers in the parishes of Westmoreland, St James and Trelawny who choose to speed and travel without wearing the proper safety gear, such as a helmet. It is for that reason and more we partnered with Barry G on December 14 in hosting an outside broadcast at the Negril Police Station,” Fletcher said in an interview recently.

Up to December 22, there were 354 deaths due to road crashes. This compared to the 304 road fatalities in 2014 and 290 recorded in 2013.