Back and Next - Back and NextYouth Matters: Global road safety About 1000 young people die of road accident daily
Friday, April 25, 2008
The Gambia Road Authority (GRA) and the national youth parliament jointly commemorated the Global Road Safety Week, yesterday. Celebrated annually all over the world, the Global Road Safety week has the aim of bringing to the fore issues relating to road safety and traffic accidents.
This year’s celebration (with the theme: Road safety is no accident) is the second of its kind since the international community observed the first ever UN Road Safety Week last year.
The event was characterized by a march past, comprising students, GRA officials and NYP members, from the Westfield junction, through the Kairaba Avenue, ending at the Kairaba Police Station, near the traffic light junction.
In his statement to the youths, the managing director of GRA, Karamo Jaiteh, speaking on behalf of the SoS for Works, Construction and Infrastructure, Honorable Lamin Bojang, said that “as we celebrate this important event, we need to reflect on the theme for this year’s celebration, ‘Road Safety is no accident’. Mr Jaiteh said that the activities marking this celebration are geared towards the sensitization of the general public and the daily road users on road safety measures, in a bid to avoid road accidents.
Mr Jaiteh went on to say: “according to the world report on road traffic injury protection, about 1000 young people under the age of 25 years are killed in road traffic accidents daily around the globe.” He also said that most young people killed in road crashes are vulnerable road users and these include pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists and passengers on public transport.
According to him, road traffic injuries place a heavy burden, not only on global and national economies, but also its effect on household finances, as many families are driven deeply into poverty by the loss of breadwinners and the added burden of caring for relatives disabled by road traffic injuries.
“It is a concern that unsafe practices by users of roads are seriously harming public health and development. The level of road traffic injury is unacceptable, because it is mostly avoidable. The use of seat belts, helmets and rejecting mobile calls are all measures to prevent road accidents.
The GRA boss further noted that the government of The Gambia acknowledged road traffic injuries as a major public health and development problem and that it had placed road safety high on its development agenda.
He added that since 1994, general road construction works were undertaken, which were aimed at providing quality road infrastructure across the country, and that with the visionary leadership of his Excellency the President of the Republic, the Gambia Roads Authority was established to supervise and monitor all road maintenance and constructions.
For his part, Commissioner Jammeh Conta, speaking on behalf of the IGP, said that the Gambia Police Force had recently introduced a 24 hour, routine traffic patrol mission, during which vehicle checking exercise aimed at reducing road traffic accidents and other motor traffic related problems would be conducted.
According to him traffic management skill remained one of the greatest challenges facing the Gambia Police Force.
Other speakers at the ceremony included the Secretary General of the Gambia National Transport Control Association, a representative of the speaker of the National Youth Parliament, and Hon. Yassin Nyan, who delivered the youth statement.
This year’s celebration (with the theme: Road safety is no accident) is the second of its kind since the international community observed the first ever UN Road Safety Week last year.
The event was characterized by a march past, comprising students, GRA officials and NYP members, from the Westfield junction, through the Kairaba Avenue, ending at the Kairaba Police Station, near the traffic light junction.
In his statement to the youths, the managing director of GRA, Karamo Jaiteh, speaking on behalf of the SoS for Works, Construction and Infrastructure, Honorable Lamin Bojang, said that “as we celebrate this important event, we need to reflect on the theme for this year’s celebration, ‘Road Safety is no accident’. Mr Jaiteh said that the activities marking this celebration are geared towards the sensitization of the general public and the daily road users on road safety measures, in a bid to avoid road accidents.
Mr Jaiteh went on to say: “according to the world report on road traffic injury protection, about 1000 young people under the age of 25 years are killed in road traffic accidents daily around the globe.” He also said that most young people killed in road crashes are vulnerable road users and these include pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists and passengers on public transport.
According to him, road traffic injuries place a heavy burden, not only on global and national economies, but also its effect on household finances, as many families are driven deeply into poverty by the loss of breadwinners and the added burden of caring for relatives disabled by road traffic injuries.
“It is a concern that unsafe practices by users of roads are seriously harming public health and development. The level of road traffic injury is unacceptable, because it is mostly avoidable. The use of seat belts, helmets and rejecting mobile calls are all measures to prevent road accidents.
The GRA boss further noted that the government of The Gambia acknowledged road traffic injuries as a major public health and development problem and that it had placed road safety high on its development agenda.
He added that since 1994, general road construction works were undertaken, which were aimed at providing quality road infrastructure across the country, and that with the visionary leadership of his Excellency the President of the Republic, the Gambia Roads Authority was established to supervise and monitor all road maintenance and constructions.
For his part, Commissioner Jammeh Conta, speaking on behalf of the IGP, said that the Gambia Police Force had recently introduced a 24 hour, routine traffic patrol mission, during which vehicle checking exercise aimed at reducing road traffic accidents and other motor traffic related problems would be conducted.
According to him traffic management skill remained one of the greatest challenges facing the Gambia Police Force.
Other speakers at the ceremony included the Secretary General of the Gambia National Transport Control Association, a representative of the speaker of the National Youth Parliament, and Hon. Yassin Nyan, who delivered the youth statement.
Author: by Ebrima Jatta
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