BRACO, Trelawny — Some of those who knew Marlon Lyons, the taxi driver who perished along with three of his seven passengers on Sunday, were not surprised that he was involved in a crash. They said the 59-year-old man, who had a defect in one eye, has had a string of traffic mishaps over the years.

One woman who asked not to be identified by name painted a picture of a driver who would take his eyes off the road to retrieve a fallen phone.

“He always get involve in accident. Him all deh come right there so inna the road, him phone drop, him hold down him head and you only hear ‘boop’! Him lick up inna man car. Him never ready fi the driving business,” she told the Jamaica Observer during a visit to Braco, Trelawny, on Monday.

She confirmed what others had said on Sunday when news broke that the Toyota Probox which Lyons operated as a taxi ended up under a cement-laden truck that was going uphill on the Braco main road on the North Coast Highway.

The crash also claimed the lives of three hotel workers from St Ann: 19-year-old Anthony Walters of Alexander; 32-year-old Sabrina Downie from Discovery Bay; and 39-year-old Jody Levy of Brown’s Town.

The police put the time of the collision about 8:00 am Sunday, hours ahead of the men’s 100 metres Olympic finals. For neighbours, it was an eerie reminder of what they said happened in 2021.

“The man crash down here one morning during the last Olympics when the 100 metre going run; mi can’t forget it,” one onlooker claimed on Sunday.

He also spoke of four previous crashes in which Lyons was involved.

“Him head-on and write-off one man car on the Braco road. Him crash on the Queen’s Road, him crash down a Falmouth, him crash in St Ann’s Bay,” said the man.

When contacted on Monday, head of the Trelawny Police Division Deputy Superintendent Winston Milton was unable to confirm residents’ reports of Lyons’ history of crashes.

“We are not aware of that so we can’t speak to it,” he told the Observer.

Also on Monday, vice-chairman of the National Road Safety Council (NRSC), Dr Lucien Jones, told the Observer that the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s Public Safety and Traffic Enforcement Branch had launched a standard investigation to determine the cause of the crash. This will include a look at whether Lyons had a valid driver’s licence and if the vehicle was fit for operating on the road. A day earlier Jones had struggled to understand how the crash occurred.

“How can a car run into a truck back going up a hill?” the NRSC official mused then.

“It is just an amazing event, and it means that we have to redouble our efforts to warn people about speeding, to warn people about [the importance of] driving carefully on the roads, wearing their seat belts, wearing their helmets, not drink and drive, it can cause madness on the roads; do not smoke marijuana and drive,” Jones urged yet again.

Meanwhile, despite what appeared to be the open secret of Lyons’ alleged troubles behind the wheel, it appears he was well liked within his community.

“Him don’t give no trouble, him and nobody don’t have no problem. Him is not a problem child. Him just want to do him honest work, but is the wrong work him take up. Him losing one of him sight so him should do something else. Him shouldn’t take the road,” one woman said.

Lyons’ close friend, a distressed Kirk Parks who operates a car wash in Braco, revealed that the day before the crash the cabbie confided that he was going to give up the job.

“It was like Saturday he was here and him say, ‘You know say mi going stop run taxi.’ So Sunday morning when mi hear say accident up the road mi say, ‘Cho, mi nah go out deh.’ Mi sit down until somebody call mi and say, ‘Mi hear say Rasta crash and dead.’ Mi feel it,” said a dejected Parks.

He said he and Lyons never “exchanged words” about the cabbie’s traffic mishaps as he plied the route between St Ann’s Bay to Discovery Bay, St Ann. As the car wash owner explained, Lyons had a Sunday morning routine.

“He usually pick up the people them, take them to the hotel, and come wash him car,” he explained.

Lyons and the two passengers in the front seat died on the spot, and one of the four on the back seat died while being treated at Falmouth Public General Hospital. The three other passengers have been admitted to hospital.

DSP Milton said it was obvious speeding played a factor in the crash.

“It is evident, just looking at the mangled remains, that the vehicle was travelling at a high speed at the time of the impact. We continue to implore our motorists to drive within the speed limit along the roadways and to obey the road signs and markings,” he urged Sunday.

“Based on the number of persons injured here, it is evident that at least seven persons were in this vehicle, which is licensed to carry five,” DSP Milton added.