By Jonique Gaynor, Staff Reporter

The full start of the new school year today will see many more police officers manning the roads.

Deputy Superintendent Byron Powell, of the Police Traffic department, told the STAR that as of today, when "all schools would be up and running", more officers will be deployed to maintain calm on the roads, especially along the major roadways in the Corporate Area and St. Catherine.

Powell says this decision to deploy more officers in the mornings was made because "more people are going out at the same time in the mornings." In order to ensure the safety of motorists and pedestrians, Powell says all the major intersections will be monitored.

He listed the Mandela Highway and Caymanas Crossing intersection, the toll road exit by Tinson Pen, the East Avenue and Marcus Garvey Drive intersection, the Eastwood Park Road and Courtney Walsh drive intersection and the roundabout in Christian Pen, Portmore, as the areas to be monitored. DSP Powell also said that more officers will be deployed along commonly-used thoroughfares like the Mandela Highway, Washington Boulevard, Spanish Town Road, Hope Road, Waterloo Road and Old Church Road.

According to Powell, the Road Safety Unit will be pulling out all the stops to ensure the safety of pedestrians. He said officials from the unit would be out to monitor pedestrian crossings and to ensure that wardens are in place with all their equipment.

He also appealed to parents who transport their children to school on motor bikes to ensure that the children wear helmets. Parents who take two or three children to school on bicycles will also be targeted. These measures will be put in place to reduce the number of casualties and to ensure a smooth and safe start to the school year. This increased patrol will continue for the next two or three weeks and DSP Powell says the department will be scaling down its administrative operations to allow for more officers to be on the road.