The second African Road Safety Conference is currently taking place in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia.
The Second African Road Safety Conference opened in Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa on Wednesday, November 9, with solemn calls to turn Africa’s road carnage statistics around through the implementation of a proposed African Action Plan for 2011-2020. The plan is under review by hundreds of participants who are attending the conference.
Speaking during the conference, the Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Mr Abdalla Hamdok, said “Road crashes are the second leading cause of death for age groups between 5 to 44 years in African countries and this causes a heavy toll on African economies.” He underscored that the high crash incidence is attributed to “poor road networks, inadequate road signage, limited knowledge on road safety, poorly enforced legislation and the poor emergency-preparedness by medical facilities.” The Road Safety Conference is one in a series of similar forums dating back to 1997, organised by the ECA. Abdalla Hamdok noted that in this regard, recent declarations by ministers have helped to push for national attention and to mitigate the growing tragedy of deaths and injuries on African roads. The outcomes of such meetings have been incorporated in the Global Road Safety Action Plan. In addition, efforts by NGOs and the private sector have contributed to increased road safety awareness. “We strongly believe that we have to act together to develop sustainable policies and action points if we are to realise a safe traffic environment for our continent,” Abdalla Hamdok said, adding that through the African Action Plan, Africa will have a voice.
Testimonies by road crash victims from Ethiopia and South Africa’s Maputo Corridor brought home the gut-wrenching impact of the carnage and the reality of the statistics shared by Hamdok. Globally, more than 1.2 million people die in road crashes around the world and 65 per cent of these deaths are pedestrians who do not own cars. Much worse, 35 percent of pedestrian deaths are innocent children. The majority of these deaths, about 70 percent, occur in developing countries. “In our region where 50 per cent of the population is below the age of 16, road crashes therefore exact a heavy human toll on the continent's younger members and robs Africa of its future human capital,” Abdalla Hamdok said and added: “The road safety agenda has become urgent, particularly in Africa - we will have to rally together to reduce road safety fatalities and injuries.”
Ethiopia’s President, Girma Wolde Giorgis, has welcomed the African Action Plan and said it would assist in “promoting awareness of the huge economic losses and human suffering caused by road crashes.” The African Road Safety Action Plan 2011-2020 is a comprehensive document containing five broad issues that will form the basis for the outcomes of the discussions: Road Safety Management; Safer Roads and Mobility; Safer Vehicles; Safer Road Users; Post-crash Response.
