The West Africa Road Safety Organization 2021 conference hosted in Freetown by the Sierra Leone Roads Safety Authority which began on Monday 4th October 2021 ended successfully yesterday. Speaking on the conference, SLRSA’s Public Relations Officer, Abdul Karim Dumbuya, said this is the tenth conference and the third to be hosted by Sierra Leone.
The conference, he said, was graced by the World Bank, ECOWAS and the African Union. The focus, he said, was on developing a global, West Africa and specific country plan within the United Nations plan to address the issues of road safety. The conference, Mr. Dumbuya highlights the need for West African countries to brace up and prioritize road safety by setting up a parliamentary task force and a parliamentary committee on road safety as they have in Ghana and establishing a single road safety structure, as road safety challenges are common to all the West African countries.
The policies and legislative review will then by cascade to other countries. On challenges facing road safety in the country, he cited the import of aged vehicles and capacity building for drivers and riders including training and giving them knowledge on road safety. Mr. Dumbuya ended by calling on the media, civil society, drivers’ union, drivers, road users and all to take a part in ensuring safety on the roads, citing dangers such as drunk driving.
