Fran$[on ministe]: Accident related eaths 0n the increase inRoorer

Page t
DAILY OBSERVER Tuesday,May 14th,2013
NATIONALNEWS
related
deaths
Accident
ministe]:
Fran$[on
nations
inRoorer
0ntheincrease
bA Arfqng Camara
;-11he minister of Transport, Works
I and Infrastructure has stressed
L
tlre nccd for attentions to focus on
:h^ pressing problenrs of road safety,
iar:.erting that the deaths and injuries
sustained in road related accidents are
increasing rapidly in poorer nations in
contraot to richer countries where the
menae is slowly dmreasing.
FrancisLitti Mboge was speakingon Saturday
.:l tLe Chambe6 ofthe National Assemblydudng
celebrationsmarking the Global Road Safety
Week.
Organisedalongsidethe rrth anniversaryof
the National Youth Parliament,this year's commernomtionwhich took the form of a street carnival from the Edward FrancisSmall Monument
/o'vn to the National Assenbly Chrmbers
f . r , : r , sdr o n t h c t h c m c , " l ' c d c s t r i a n S $ f t l y " .
'l'lre
minixtcr disclosedthul cech ycar, ntrre
lh{r 27o,(xx} po(l(!rtrilni!ric tllrir livci or tlrc
wrrld'r rrrrlr, notirrl thlt nrnnyurrrLl lrlvc tlrir
honrrr rlr lrry ;1ivrndry trr rchrrrl ot work rrxl
Irvrr rstrrrtr llo rltrr'lrrql t|trt lhrlnlly, pulcs"
lrtnrr rrtrlrlllulr lz.|6 ol rll ronrldqtthr. inrlirtt!rI tlLil lI r0nrr (rrurlriei lhrr prop{rrta(trt
is es
lrlltr !i lwo tlrrrtlr "Mrllronrnrorclrr: injurcd in
:f
t r r l l i t r r l r l r r l c r r r h r r w l r i l cw l l k i n g , s o t n r o
whrlu lxurnn lrrnrrncntly disubk:d,Theseroad
m:itlcntr cauccrnuch sLrffcringand grief u wcll
r r c c o n o m i ch r r d s h i p f o r f a m i l i e sa n d l o v e d
oncs,"he statcd.
The Translxrrt minister also observedthat victims of rord rclated accidentsare often young,
thus leaviug familie to cope with the loss of a
b r e a d w i n n e r .H e t h e r e f o r es t r e s s e dt h a t t h e '
capacityto respondto pedestriansafety is an
important component of effofts to prevent rcad
traffic injuils.
'Pedestrian
collisions, like other road traffic
crashes,should not be acceptedas inevitable
becausethey are, in fact, both predictable and
wilhout whosevision, support and encouragepwcntrble," he streesed.
Minirtcr Mboge observedthat key risks to ment we ennot attain the level we are today. lt
p('dcstriansare related to a broad range of fac- would be worthwhile to note tlat the president
t o r s s u c h a s d r i v e r b e h a v i o u ri n r e l a t i o n t o has deep rcnern for unnece$ary and prflentaspceding,drink-driving; infrutructure in terms ble carnageson our roads. Under his directive,
of lack of dedicatedfacilities for pedestrians,m my ministry m taskedwith onstituting a mulwell as poor care servicesin nuny settings that ti-sectoralcommitteeto study the problemsof
thwart efforts to provide urgeut medical treat- road safetyin the country and make recommendations accordintly,"he concludecl.
ment.
R e p r e s e n t i n tt h e s p e a k e ro f t h e N a t i o n a l
He howeveracknowledgedthat.over the yeam
they have seensitnificant improvementin the Assembly,the National Assemblynremberfor
country's road safety, thanks to efforts of such Banjul Central,HonourableAbdoulie Saine,said
organisationsr the National Youth Parliamant .the theme is apt as the safetyof ped$trians bas
beome a great conem of recent.
(NYP).
He stre$ed the needfor policy makersto come
Government's commitment
The minister usedthe opportunity to redsure with a road safety declarationfor the use of all.
The executivesecretaryof the National Youth
the commitment of The Gambia governmentto
rcad safetyeffons, while applaudingthe leader- Council,AbubacarrA Sisawo,who deputisedfor
'I
ship for its support in this regard. must take the minister of Youth and Sports, said issus of
this opportunity to salute our visionary leader, road safety are a concern for them, and urged
drivers to be cautious about pedesrians, conH.E Sheikh PrcfessorAlhaji Dr. YahyaJmmeh,
demning the "recklcs' attitude of some driven
towards pedestrians,saying some are either
drunk or smokingwhile driving.
Sisarc hailed NYP for the good initiative and
assuredof the Ministry's support to this cause.
The chairpersonof NYP, Jainaba Faye,who
spoke earlier, aplained that the NYP is an advocacy,dev€lopment-orientedand motivational
organisationestablishedto bring together all the
relevantstakeholdersto contribute to national
development.
She told the Batherint that one of their objectivs is to addressall forms of social vices,especially prejudiceand discrimination.
Faye infomed that their mission is to build a
better Cambia with effecti./eparticipation of
infomed and epacitated young people.
Commentingon issuc surroundingroad disasters,she disclosedthat a total of5r20 mad traf6c accidentsoccurred between the years zooo2oo9. "Out ofthis figure, 3715are male and r4o5
are female,' she reporteds.
.,.tlti i rii: r
Lands,SaikouK. Sanyangsaid the objetive of
the workshop is to etrablethe councilorsdisN c w l y t l c c t e d c o u n c i l o r sd r s w n f r o m t h e chargetheir duties and responsibilitieswitlin
I t r r r j u l C i t y C o u n c i l ( B C C )a n d t h e K a n i f i n g the onfins of the law.
Municipal Council (KMC) on Monday begana
Pointing to the high priority that the pr$ident
two-daycapacitybuildingseminaron the 2oo2 of the Republicaccordedcouncil matters, PS
Lacal Covemment Act and human rights, at the Sanyangstatedthat the governmentdid not only
c o n f e r e n c eh a l l o f T h e A s s o c i a t i o no f N o n - singlehandedlyfinancelocal governmentelecGovernmentalOrganisationat Fajara.
tions, but also providedthe necessaryhuman
Organisedby the National Councilfor Civic and materialsupport.
Education(NCCE),the synerty is part of efforts
He used the platform to congratulate the
to support awarenss creation through effective NCCE on organisingthe training, while comcommunicationand advocacyinteryentionon m e n d i n g t h e U n i t e d N a t i o n s D e v e l o p m e n t
e l e c t o r a lr i g h t s , c i v i c e d u c a t i o na n d h u m a n P r o g r a m m e( U N D P ) a n d t h e A c t i o n A i d
I n t e r n a t i o n a lT h e G a n r b i af o r f i n a n c i n gt h e
dghts at all levels.
Speakingat the msion, the permanentsecre- training.
The acting chairman of NCCE, Alhaji
tary at the Ministry of RegionalGowrnment and
by Jcutl'urilCollcy
Momodou M. Joof, for his part, congratulated
the electedand nominatedouncilom on what he
called their well deservedpositions. He
expressedhope that they will be resourceful in
their efforts towards national developmentand
the attainmentof the Millennium Development
Goals(MDGs).
He concludedby advisingthe councilorsto do
their work effectivelyand be accommodativeto
feedbackgiven to them as repr$entatives of the
pmple.
The acting executivedirector of Action Aid
InternationalTh€ Cambia (AAITG), KebbaSima,
informed the gatheringthat the UNDP and the
M i n i s t r y o f F i n a n c ea n d E c o n o n i c A f f a i r s
(MOFEA) had signedMoU with his institution
to jointly undertakeaod support training pro-
... lS San-yalg :,,flir,,r
gran)mesfor local government area councils.
Underscoringthe imponance of the training
Sima said it targets people who act as th€ interfacebetweenthe nrrusesand the govemment. He
strc$ed that it is impcrative for the representatives to b€ awarc of and understand the content
of key policy instrumentssuch as Local
GovernmentAct 2oo2 and its decentralisation
process,amongstothers.
sufppqln.t
WEdow of I s@eEEs
couple of years ago, and since then life has
been extremely unbearable for her and the
nine children, some of whom are in school.
To this poor widow, her life has been
nothing less thao a devastoiing one as she
A 3 8 - y e a r - o l dw i d o w a n d r e s i d e n to f N e w
Y u n d u m i n t h e W e s t C o a s tR e g i o n ,r e c e n t l y
walked into the offices of the Daily
Obscruer company to tequest for assisiance s i r u t g l € s h a r d t o ; i r i t f o a ( l o n t h e t l l l l c a n d
r , , ' r r b l e h e r n e e t t h e c h a l l e n s e so f t h e l a t e r f c j r + h e o t h e r , : c i i i . r : i r r r e n t s ( f i l r e c h i l '91':e1 of ht'r rille chiltlren.
'li tr: ^rm...:, 'lhi: anreared
in
ery
dren
rScrr:::t'r:e; I ucr
lCr if | , ti
Cr,'r
trii
was caringand loving;he had it all but my
l i f e a n d t h a t o f m y c h i l d r e n ' st u r n c d s o u r
w h e n h e d i e d , " C a m a r an a r r a t e si n 1 e a r s .
A c c o r d i n gt o h e r , s h e f i n d s i t v e r y d i f f i c u l t t o m a k e a l i v i n g a s s h e d e p e n d se n t i r e l y o r , b e g g i n gt o m a k e c n d s m e c t ,
" S o m e t i m e sw e r t a y t h e w h r l t d a y ; v i t h o u t f o o d I h a v e t h e a m b i t i o n o f s e n d i n gm y
c h i l C r e nt o s c h o c l .l : u t I ^ r , r n a [ r l : ' o f u l f i i l
nowhere to stay with my nine childrcn. I
can't even provide
educate them. when
food for them,
let alone
my husband was alive,
we were renting a full apartment, but now I
can't afford to pay for
house rent," she
s1'd.
Anyone h'illing to help can contact Binta
oq
tl.e following
numbers:
366or49/
OBSERVER
Road safety
Activities
global road safety week
marking
are in progress with the theme'focusing on how
to make pedestrians safe on our roads.'
We
wish
because
to add our voice to this issue
automobile
accideots have become
rampant in the country ofrecent.
We
know
government
LooK...
Ls'illtu8a
Tre Lniii
f'lepiitra,\
)oulltsefiaeg
-fi( s(d(rnq
Niiu o[6iq
o l r?
has constructcd
good roads all over the country to ensure the
smooth flow oftraffic, The govemment has dlso
done a good job in this regard by introducing
traflic regulations that disallow driving while
talking on a cell phone, making the use of seat
belts compulsory, avoiding over speeding and
overtaking
etc. It is therefore the duty of all
drivers to complywith these provisions to ensure
safety on our roads.
A critical
look at most of the accidents that
occurred in the past will reveal that they were
caused by the carelcssness and recklessness of
our drivers. Many of them over speed when
driving, as they are so much in a hurry that they
don't mind overtaking other vehicles even at
road junctions, regardless of the consequences.
Another cause ofaccidents is the fact that many
GAMBIAPRESSUNION
ANNOUNCEMENT
ofthe cars and lorries that ply our roads are not
roadworthy. Sometimes many of these vehicles
have faulty brakes or worn-out
tyres and lack
side mirrors.
Of course,
we are aware that the police, as
the law enforcement agency, are exercising their
mandate to the mdimum.
They can be spotted
at many points along the highways, executing
their duties in ensuring that people complywith
traffic rules. We urge them to redouble their
efforts and continue to be more vigilant so as to
prevent unnecessary road accidents. They must
ensure that anyefiant driveris banned from the
road, and any vehicle that is not road worthy
impounded.
Equally,
we wish to mll on all and sundry to
exelcise care and caution when on trafific. This
is neccssary because the road is meant for both
vehicles and pedestlians to carry out thejr
everyday transactioils.
We hope thal clrivcrs heed our arlvice so tlrrt
collectively we prevent unnecessary accidents on
our roads.
The GambiaPressUnionwill on Saturday
holda general
meeting
at itsheadquarters
in
Falaraat 12noon.