WHAT WE DO

We at AFRICA ROAD EVENTS conceptualize, plan and produce innovative and memorable events, conferences and seminars aimed at raising road safety awareness.

 

WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO

We are driven by the desperate need to see a reduction in motor vehicle accidents on our roads and the consequential loss of lives, injury to persons and damage to property.

 

WE NOTE THE FOLLOWING:

THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: [“Executive Summary” as reported in the “Global Status Report on Road Safety 2018]

“The number of road traffic deaths continues to climb, reaching 1.35 million in 2016. However, the rates
of death relative to the size of the world’s population has stabilized in recent years. The data presented in
this report show that progress has been achieved in important areas such as legislation, vehicle standards
and improving access to post-crash care. This progress has not, however, occurred at a pace fast enough
to compensate for the rising population and rapid motorization of transport taking place in many parts of
the world. At this rate, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) target 3.6 to halve road traffic deaths by
2020 will not be met.

Road traffic injury is now the leading cause of death for children and young adults aged 5–29 years, signalling
a need for a shift in the current child health agenda, which has largely neglected road safety. It is the eighth
leading cause of death for all age groups surpassing HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and diarrhea diseases.
The burden of road traffic injuries and deaths is disproportionately borne by vulnerable road users and those
living in low- and middle-income countries, where the growing number of deaths is fueled by transport that
is increasingly motorized. Between 2013 and 2016, no reductions in the number of road traffic deaths were
observed in any low-income country, while some reductions were observed in 48 middle- and high-income
countries. Overall, the number of deaths increased in 104 countries during this period.

Strengthening legislation to mitigate key risk factors is recognized by the majority of governments as an
important strategy to improve road safety, as evidenced by the 149 countries that have designated lead
agencies with responsibilities that include enacting and assessing traffic laws. While too many countries
still lack legislation that appropriately addresses risks such as speeding, drink-driving, the use of helmets,
seat-belts and child restraints, since 2014 progress has been made in a number of these areas. Overall 22
additional countries have amended their laws on one or more risk factors to bring them in line with best
practice. This translates to an additional one billion people who are now covered by effective road traffic laws.
Of the 175 countries participating in this report, 123 have road traffic laws that meet best practice for one
or more key risk factors. During this review period, ten additional countries (45 in total) have aligned with
best practice on drink-driving legislation, five additional countries (49 in total) on motorcycle helmet use,
four additional countries (33 in total) have aligned with best practice on the use of child restraint systems,
and three additional countries (105 in total) on the use of seat-belts. Less progress has been made on
adopting best practice on speed limits, despite the importance of speed as a major cause of death and
serious injury.

 

HERE FOLLOWS COMMENTS WHICH WE POSTED IN RESPECT OF THE “GLOBAL STATUS REPORT ON ROAD SAFETY 2013” AND “THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY” WHEN THIS SITE WAS FIRST ESTABLISHED:

“THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: According to the World Health Organization, road traffic injuries remains unacceptably high at 1.24 million deaths worldwide in the year 2010, slightly down from 1.26 million in 2000. Only 28 countries, representing 449 million people (7% of the world’s population), have adequate laws that address all five risk factors (speed, drink– driving, helmets, seat-belts and child restraints). Over a third of road traffic deaths in low- and middle-income countries are among pedestrians and cyclists. However, less than 35% of low- and middle-income countries have policies in place to protect these road users.

It is further reported that there are large disparities in road traffic death rates between regions. The risk of dying as a result of a road traffic injury is highest in the African Region (24.1 per 100 000 population), and lowest in the European Region (10.3 per 100 000). Half of the world’s road traffic deaths occur among motorcyclists (23%), pedestrians (22%) and cyclists (5%) – i.e. “vulnerable road users” – with 31% of deaths among car occupants and the remaining 19% among unspecified road users.

THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY: On 10 May 2010, the General Assembly adopted resolution A/RES/64/255 with which it proclaimed the period 2011–2020 as the Decade of Action for Road Safety, with a goal to stabilize and then reduce the forecast level of road traffic fatalities around the world by increasing activities conducted at the national, regional and global levels.”