Skip to main content

Third African safety conference – held in Addis Ababa

IRF providing input for the revision of the African Decade of Action Plan As part of the preparations for the second Global High Level Conference on Road Safety to be held in Brasilia later this year, UNECA, in collaboration with the African Union Commission (AUC), African Transport Policy Programme (SSATP), the Global Road Safety Facility of the World Bank, the International Road Federation (IRF-Geneva) and other partners, organised the Third African Road Safety Conference on 9 and 10 July 2015 at the U
August 18, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
A key conference conclusion was that better data would help deliver improved road safety
IRF providing input for the revision of the African Decade of Action Plan

As part of the preparations for the second Global High Level Conference on Road Safety to be held in Brasilia later this year, UNECA, in collaboration with the African Union Commission (AUC), African Transport Policy Programme (SSATP), the Global Road Safety Facility of the World Bank, the International Road Federation (1201 IRF Geneva) and other partners, organised the Third African Road Safety Conference on 9 and 10 July 2015 at the United Nation Conference Centre in Addis Ababa.

The objective of this conference was to review the progress made towards the objectives of the African Road Safety Action Plan (2011-2020). As part of this review, the conference covered the progress made by member states have in implementing the African Road Safety Action Plan; and identifying the challenges to the implementation of the Action Plan.

The conference was kicked off with address by Tekletsadik Reba, State Minister of Transport for Ethiopia, Jean Todt, and the UN Special Envoy for Road Safety, and Kiran Kapila, IRF Geneva chairman. Todt highlighted the need to collect more and better data in his address. Kapila, IRF Geneva chairman, gave a keynote address in which he emphasised the need to improve road safety not just on new roads, but also on existing roads. According to UNECA, Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa are the “top three performers among 23 countries” in terms of carrying out the activities of the African Road Safety Action Plan. While progress has and is being made, the performance of countries in implementing the Plan and improving road safety has been mixed. Meanwhile, around 40% of the countries are implementing road safety management activities. But more than 30% of the countries have not even take steps to harmonise data formats and use international standards for reporting road safety data.

One of the key conclusions of the conference was that the availability and quality of data needed to be improved. Better, and more data, the conference concluded would greatly help in designing evidence based interventions and improving road safety.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • A defining milestone for Caribbean cooperation
    July 20, 2012
    Over 200 delegates from 31 countries took part in the 1st IRF Caribbean Regional Congress, a new platform for dialogue at the service of a region with fast-evolving infrastructure needs. As they address the questions of development and global integration, many of the Caribbean region's island nations are adopting visionary measures to adapt their highway infrastructure to the needs of a booming economy, growing regional trade and an increasingly mobile population.
  • Tackling India’s road safety will reduce crash rate
    February 19, 2013
    India’s road safety record is the world’s worst but there are plans to tackle the problems. Patrick Smith reports from New Delhi. A speeded up video of a short section of road in the Indian capital Delhi was followed by a question. “How many infringements did you count in that 25-second clip on a typical day in Delhi,” asked Dr Rohit Baluja, a question that brought understandable silence. It equated to hundreds of millions of infringements each year, said Dr Baluja, president, Institute of Road Traffic Educ
  • China's Roads Convention focuses on sustainability
    February 9, 2012
    IRF joins with key Chinese transport authorities to lead the way in efforts to make sustainable rural mobility, transport and access a reality for millions throughout the world. Jointly organised by IRF and the China Highway and Transportation Society (CHTS), together with the Shandong Provincial Transportation Department, the landmark 2nd International Convention on Rural Roads, hosted in the beautiful city of Jinan, China, marked a major step forward in global efforts to mobilise resources and knowledge f
  • The IRF Geneva signs memorandum of Understanding with the Transportation Research Board (TRB)
    May 10, 2018
    Last November, at the IRF World Road Meeting in Delhi, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by Tranportation Research Board Executive Director Neil Pedersen, Kiran K Kapila, chairman of the International Road Federation (IRF) in Geneva, and Susanna Zammataro, IRF Geneva Executive Director. TRB and IRF Geneva share mutual organisational objectives, and this MoU provides a conceptual framework for partnership to share knowledge, improve implementation of innovative solutions, disseminate good pract