Director of the Road Safety Unit (RSU), Kenute Hare, is calling for motorists to use their seat belts whenever they get into a vehicle.

The fatality rate of passengers in private motor vehicles has shot up 47 per cent when compared with the similar period in 2008, Jamaica's Road Safety Unit has revealed.

Hare said that in many of the cases, death could have been avoided if the drivers and passengers had been wearing their seat belts.

The traffic watchdog is advising all road users to buckle up, even when they are riding in the rear.

"An appeal also goes out to parents and guardians to ensure that all babies and toddlers are properly positioned in a child seat every time," Hare said in a release last Thursday.

Some 123 persons have died in traffic crashes since the start of the year, putting the recently launched Below 300 project under serious threat.

Hare is hoping that the nation will record fewer than 70 road deaths from April to June.

Protect your child

The RSU is asking parents to take special care to preserve their child's safety by ensuring that:

Every time they are transported in a motor vehicle, they are placed in a child seat.

Whenever a bicycle is purchased for a child, a helmet, knee pads and elbow pads are procured for them at the same time.

They are not allowed to walk on the roadways without adult supervision.