LACOVIA, St Elizabeth — Police say a 38-year-old man who was driving a motor car involved in Sunday’s deadly crash near here turned himself in on Monday. However, he is not the holder of a valid driver’s licence.

The man, who police did not identify, reportedly fled the accident scene on the Holland Bamboo main road after the crash and subsequently turned himself in at Lacovia Police Station, telling investigators that he did not know where the car involved in the crash was.

Up to late Monday police had not yet located the vehicle.

The crash claimed the life of Shane Shaw, 28, a resident of Whithorn district in Westmoreland.

Police said about 6:30 pm on Sunday a motor car collided with Shaw’s motorcycle on the Holland Bamboo main road, resulting in him being flung from it. He was taken to hospital and pronounced dead.

Another motorcyclist also lost his life in a crash in Newell, St Elizabeth, on Sunday. Police said he was hit from his motorcycle and pronounced dead at hospital.

On Monday, vice-chairman of National Road Safety Council Dr Lucien Jones reiterated his call for motorcyclists to wear helmets.

“The biggest problem we have now is the number of motorcyclists who are not wearing helmets, and they are crashing and dying — which is why we started the national helmet-wearing coalition to create an environment that will facilitate people making a decision to wear a standard, approved helmet to save their lives. The coalition is working well, and hopefully we [will] make an impact on this category of road users and help to drive down the number of people who are dying,” he said.

Despite Sunday’s two deaths he said there is a downward trend in road fatalities.

“This year we are doing better than last year, with 255 road deaths to date versus 288 last year, so we are down 11 per cent, based on police records. In respect to the category of road users who are dying, we are doing better than last year for the most part in the sense that pedestrian deaths are down, with 59 last year [compared] to 45 this year,” Jones said.

In relation to motorcyclists, Jones said 83 have perished in road crashes since the start of the year, compared to 93 over the same period last year.

Meanwhile, 42 private motor car drivers have died in crashes so far this year, compared to 52 for the same period last year, but private motor car passengers fatalities are up by one with 28, compared to 27 last year.

“For public passenger vehicle passengers, which has been in the news recently, there are 13 deaths this year compared to 11 last year, so we are doing worse this year,” Jones said.