Cutting African road deaths with better safety measures

Using better safety measures will help cutting African road deaths.
By MJ Woof March 16, 2020 Read time: 2 mins
Africa’s rural roads present different safety hazards – image © courtesy of Mike Woof

A partnership programme administered by the World Bank is aiming to cut road deaths worldwide. The Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF) is a global multi-donor fund aimed at helping governments develop road safety management capacity and scale up road safety delivery in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

As part of an agreement with the Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF), Total Foundation says it will be supporting the African Road Safety Observatory by helping to implement a range of training programs targeting different local stakeholders.

The project is intended to help countries like Cameroon, Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda analyse available data to identify issues and deliver road safety strategies.

This is an important move and according to the Total Foundation, According to the World Health Organization’s latest report, Africa remains the region with the highest road-accident fatality rate in the world. Road crashes are the number one cause of death among young people aged 5-29.

The African Road Safety Observatory (ARSO) was established in 2018 as part of the projects supported by the FIA High Level Panel, whose members include Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Total.

The Observatory’s mission is to encourage a coordinated effort on the part of African countries to ensure greater road safety. In particular, it aims to collect, analyse and share data to provide a better understanding of the risk factors and to develop effective solutions for reducing the number of accidents across the continent.

Training programmes offered by the GRSF will aim to improve the understanding of the challenges faced, as well as strengthen the skills and commitment of all stakeholders, to support the use of data collection and analysis tools on the ground. The goal is to enable decision-making based on reliable information, while fostering collaboration across the continent.

According to the GRSF, this is a key issue to be tackled. Africa’s losses and suffering from road crashes are more serious than for any other continent. In Africa there are over 26 road death/100,000 people/year. This compares with a global average of 18/100,000. The world’s best performing countries have less than 3 deaths/100,000. This is not only a human and social disaster, it also slows down economic growth in African countries.

Road Markings, Barriers & Workzone Protection

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • SaferAfrica Project discusses Data Collection in Africa at workshop event
    July 9, 2018
    Members of the consortium of the EU-funded SaferAfrica project met in Athens on 24-27 April 2018 to discuss advancements and to present first results to the management board. IRF (Geneva) is a member of the consortium and shared its experience on data collection during the dedicated workshop held jointly with the management board. Representatives from the African Development Bank, UNECA, SSATP/World Bank, FIA, WHO, IRTAD, RU and PIARC were also present to address the issue of data in Africa and the specific
    Read More
  • The drive for safer roads around the world
    October 1, 2019
    The world’s roads are dangerous places. Around 1.35 million/year are killed in road crashes, according to data collated by the World Health Organization (WHO). Just 28 countries are rated as having adequate laws covering the five biggest risk factors in crashes according to WHO: speed; DUI; helmets; seat belts; child restraints. Europe has the world’s safest roads, with the lowest level of road casualties/year. Around 9.2 people/100,000 of population are killed on Europe’s roads/year on average. Africa m
    Read More
  • New report lays out concrete steps toward safer roads
    July 31, 2023
    Countries can reduce deaths and injuries from road traffic crashes by flipping the traditional mobility hierarchy and adopting the Safe System approach. That is the finding of a new report from the Sustainable Mobility for All Initiative (SuM4All) presented at a press event of the ITF Summit held in Leipzig.
    Read More
  • UN sets global target for road safety
    October 21, 2015
    The UN has set a global benchmark for reducing traffic fatalities on the world’s road network. Data shows that every year, almost 1.3 million people are killed in road crashes around the globe, according to information gathered by the World Health Organisation (WHO). In a bid to tackle this major problem, world leaders recently vowed to halve the number of global deaths and injuries from road traffic accidents by 2020. This target was agreed at the UN Sustainable Development Summit in New York.
    Read More

Highlighted Content