A six-year-old boy and his uncle were killed in a two-vehicle crash on Mountainside Main Road in St Elizabeth earlier this year.
With over 170 road fatalities recorded in Jamaica so far this year, the Jamaica Observer Online, in collaboration with a number of partners, has produced a supplement entitled “No Need for Speed” to cover all aspects of the carnage on our roads. This is a lightly edited version of one of the many articles featured in the supplement, which can be accessed at: https://www.flipsnack.com/AA895DF569B/no-need-for-speed-june-2024/full-view.html.
In an instant, a car accident can change a life forever. For some, it may be a fatal encounter, a fleeting moment that will mark their final moments. For others, it may be a life-shattering experience that will change them forever, never to feel whole again.
Leanne Palmer’s life changed forever on June 14, 2022, when she was hit by a motorbike by a driver who was “trying to meet the traffic lights” at the intersection of Maxfield Avenue and Chisholm Avenue in St. Andrew.
“I stopped at the intersection and thought, ‘Do I go this way or that way’ and my mind told me to go to Maxfield Road. I drove up Maxfield Road until I got to Chisholm Road and stopped at a traffic light. A car was coming from Chisholm trying to make the light. I was at the light and this car came straight across the road, knocked me off my bike and knocked me unconscious,” Palmer told the Jamaica Observer. “I had my helmet on but I lost consciousness. My face was blown off. My leg was broken in two places and I was taken to hospital. I lost a tooth.”
Palmer said she was initially told she needed surgery, but multiple delays in treatment at Kingston Public Hospital meant she remained in a cast for seven months even after her leg had started to heal.
“When I first got the cast off, I couldn’t walk. They said I needed physiotherapy but they didn’t do anything. I was at home doing a little bit of therapy on my own. I still couldn’t walk, I couldn’t bend my toes, I couldn’t bend my foot so I spent time at home doing things like putting warm towels on my foot to soften it up and put pressure on it,” he said, adding that he had to walk with a cane for two months before he could put full pressure on his foot again.
The accident not only left him physically injured, but also took a toll on him financially and emotionally.
“I hadn’t worked for about a year and a half… What little savings I had, I was planning to buy a car with my savings. I was going to sell my bike, make some money and buy a car, but just as I was making plans, something bad happened and I was forced to use my savings, I had to live off my savings, pay bills from my savings, buy food from my savings, go to the doctor, charter a car, do everything,” Palmer said.
Leanne Palmer’s broken leg in a cast after she was hit by a motorbike at the intersection of Maxfield Avenue and Chisholm Avenue in St. Andrew on June 14, 2022.
“Right now, I’m about 50 percent affected. Most of the time, I just think about the accident and all that I lost, everything I lost because to this day, I have gained nothing from the accident. I’ve spoken to lawyers, the insurance company has not responded, I can’t get in touch with the guy who hit me and they are trying to send a summons to the insurance company to sue… I have gained nothing, I have just lost,” he said, adding that it has been two years since the accident.
Palmer explained that he still felt pain in his leg.
“Sometimes when I’m walking, the broken parts of my legs pinch or click in my side. It feels like something is hitting the bone, so sometimes I have to sit down and rub it all the time to relieve the pain… One fracture is near my ankle and the other is in the middle of my leg,” he said.
“I broke my leg so badly, the bone in the middle almost shattered. They said they had to put an iron in because part of the bone was broken, but it eventually healed. But it’s painful in that area and even the slightest touch hurts it. It really hurts and I have to be really careful. The broken ankle is where it hurts the most right now,” Palmer said.
Since the accident, he has become anxious about riding a motorcycle.
“I have cycled before but not far. In a way, the accident made me not want to cycle on the roads anymore. It’s like how people travelling in cars don’t pay attention to cyclists,” he said.
“I have a motorbike as well. I have a motorbike licence. I can ride it to work but I don’t ride it. I take a taxi to work every day. I have been doing so for over a year now. It is expensive but I don’t want to go back to the hospital. Every time I ride on a busy road I feel like I don’t want to break my legs or hands again. Do you know how many fractures I have? I have about eight now,” Palmer said, adding that his motorbike was once robbed, breaking both his arms and legs and nearly losing his life.
Now Mr Palmer is urging road users to be more vigilant and look out for cyclists.
“Please be more careful on the roads, be more vigilant! I would ask motorists to look out for bikers because they barely use their mirrors, they just turn, if you turn too suddenly you might be there and get hit. Bikers should also be more careful and more observant in between traffic etc. All road users need to be more vigilant on the roads. The hospital is run down, it’s not nice. I have been to the hospital and there were lots of people there who had collapsed in accidents. It’s not a nice sight and I know a lot of people don’t want to go there… just be as careful as you can,” Palmer said.
Another accident victim, Novia Wilson, made a similar appeal to road users.
“Be careful. Be a defensive driver. Remember you’re not just driving for yourself but for other people too. Even though we tell people ‘don’t drink and drive’ you’re still driving for people who drink and drive so always be careful. Pray and say a word to God every time you go out because it could be your last. You don’t plan to go out and have an accident but things happen,” said Wilson, who had a near-fatal car crash in May Pen, Clarendon, in 2012.
Recalling that night, Wilson said she and her boyfriend were returning home from Chilling on the Farm on June 24, 2012, when their car pushed them off the road and crashed into a utility pole.
Novia Wilson, who was injured in a car accident in 2012, said she suffered frequent anxiety and panic attacks after the accident and now tends to drag her injured left leg when she walks too far.
She said she was asleep at the time of the crash and remembers hearing what sounded like drums.
“So I thought, why am I hearing drums? But it was really a car,” he said, explaining that the driver of the car that hit his was swerving to avoid hitting another vehicle.
“The next time I opened my eyes I heard someone say ‘she has blood in her eyes, she has blood in her eyes’ and I thought ‘what are they saying?’ But I didn’t realise I had been in an accident. I only realised I had been in an accident when I felt excruciating pain and my whole body was in pain. I tried to get up but my left leg wouldn’t move,” she said.
Wilson was left unconscious after the accident and was resuscitated on the way to hospital, suffering a complete fracture of his left femur.
“I could hear the noises around me and people’s voices. I could hear my then-boyfriend screaming, ‘Novi, Novi, please, don’t die, don’t die’. I could hear him screaming for help,” she said.
“So I was admitted to Mandeville Hospital where I had surgery. They had to use pins and rods. Now I have a rod that goes from my hip to my knee with nails and screws because they had to use it to hold the bone in place. And I’m healed. It’s titanium and I’m fine,” she said.
She added that she underwent eight hours of surgery while her then-partner, who fractured his femoral head, was forced to rest for three weeks.
Wilson said it took about a year of physical therapy sessions and doctor’s appointments before she was able to walk again without crutches.
She said that despite her challenges, she is most grateful to be alive and that all of her limbs are still functional – something that many accident victims do not enjoy.
However, it is not without problems.
“If I walk too much I tend to drag my injured left leg, so I walk very carefully, but other than that I’m fine,” she said.
“After the accident, I had a lot of anxiety and panic attacks. I don’t want to be in the passenger seat anymore,” she admitted. “I want to be in control of the driving because I think if I’m in control of the driving, I’ll drive defensively and I’ll be very careful. I’ll be more careful because my life is in my hands.”
The traffic accident occurred in St. Thomas in May of this year.
