Participants at the Second African Road Safety Conference in Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa have unanimously agreed on a detailed Action Plan aimed at stabilising and then halving the number of road crash fatalities by 2020. The Africa Action Plan (AAP) articulates clear targets and deliverables to be reviewed by African ministers in charge of transport in Luanda, Angola come November 24-28.
The meeting committed to establishing and strengthening national lead Road Safety Agencies with requisite funding to develop and rollout road safety policies as part of national implementation strategies. Participants further agreed to recognise the third Sunday of November as the African Road Safety Day, which is currently the World Victims Remembrance Day. Earlier last week, the African Union Commission (AUC), as well as victims of road crashes present at the conference which took place from November 9-11, had called on participants to consider coming to an agreement on the issue. In addition, the AUC was requested to elaborate an African Road Safety Charter to be submitted to all African Union Member States for ratification.
The conference mandated AUC in collaboration with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) to organise periodic conferences throughout the Decade in order to take stock of progress and update the Plan of Action. The three organisations would then report to AUC Conference of Ministers in charge of transport. The African Action Plan 2011-2020 elaborates five key pillars as well as cross cutting areas for action: Road Safety Management; Safer Roads and Mobility; Safer Vehicles; Safer Road Users; Post-crash Response. The Plan contains expected accomplishments, activities, monitoring indicators, implementing bodies and timeframes.
The Road Safety Conference is one in a series of similar forums dating back to 1997, organised by the ECA. The Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Mr Abdalla Hamdok, noted that recent declarations by African ministers have helped to push for national attention and to mitigate the growing tragedy of deaths and injuries on African roads which affects greatly the younger people in Africa.
