We continue to treat Road Traffic Crashes as something that has know effect whatsoever on us.
Let's imagine what would have happened if this has been a plague like 'EBOLA', we would have seen more serious minded hands on deck to stem its tide. But, because some people are greedy e.g. Government officials, especially in low and middle income countries like Africa where they care less about a life, let alone many that are lost daily on our roads. Africa has the highest death rates, but lowest vehicle numbers.
Most of these countries in sub-Sahara Africa puts road traffic legislation in place in pretense to join the '2020 Decade Of Action' but lack the political will to effectively enforce these laws and any laws, not enforced effectively is like an ink writing on the sheet of paper with no meaning whatsoever to it. The result of this, is nothing but chaos and disorder that leads to 'Road Traffic Crashes Epidemic' on our roads.
Going by the statistics in the picture above, the rate at which lives are being lost on a daily basis in sub-Sahara Africa is very alarming and if pro-active measures are not taken to address this African road menace, we'll soon become like a Village of widows where Road Traffic Crashes have killed almost all the men in it, reported by BBC.
A message to African leaders from Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies and three-term Mayor of New York. "We have the opportunity to do much more, especially when it comes to enforcing laws. Every life lost in a road crash is an avoidable tragedy, and this report can prevent more of them by helping policy-makers focus their efforts where they'll make the biggest difference." Download the report here
Another message from Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of WHO. "Countries that have had the most success in reducing the number of road traffic deaths have achieved this by improving legislation, enforcement, and making roads and vehicles safer." A word is enough for the wise.
No comments:
Post a Comment