Rédaction Africa Links 24 with Moussa Diarra
Published on 2024-04-08 11:30:32
The number of fatalities on the roads has slightly increased, compared to the 684 deaths recorded in 2022. Twenty-one percent of those killed are pedestrians. Public transportation has caused more casualties than two-wheeled vehicles
Bamako, Apr 8 (AMAP) In 2023, the number of accidents on our roads dropped by about 6% and the number of victims by 4%, while the number of people killed increased from 684 to 689 deaths, revealed Oumar Bah Maïga, the director general of the National Road Safety Agency (ANASER), on Thursday.
According to the figures published on the occasion of the 14th edition of the workshop to validate the statistics of road traffic accidents in 2023, there are more serious accidents, mainly caused by speeding.
“This situation is distressing because despite the reduction in accidents, the loss of lives is significant,” lamented the director general of the National Road Safety Agency (ANASER), Oumar Bah Maïga.
He specified that the most involved vehicles in accidents in 2023 were public transportation: buses, trucks, taxis, Sotrama (public transport)… “They have caused more casualties than two-wheeled vehicles. 21% of those killed are pedestrians, which is inconceivable,” revealed Mr. Maïga.
Every year, ANASER organizes this exercise for the stakeholders in road safety (police, gendarmerie, civil protection, health services, road safety associations) to validate the statistics of road traffic accidents.
The accident statistics are the main lever for road safety management. They allow ANASER to develop strategies, create programs, identify accidents (types and locations), diagnose causes…,” explained Ousmane Bah Maïga.
He added that his organization’s ambition is to go beyond the numbers to complete its database by inventorying roads, investigating behaviors, and collecting data on police sanctions and the road network and the quality of the medical intervention system.
The representative of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, Bintou Aliou Maïga, who presided over the opening ceremony of the workshop, emphasized the importance of combining efforts in the fight against road insecurity. This is to achieve the vision set in accordance with the National Road Safety Strategy 2021-2030, which aims to reduce the road accident mortality rate by 50%, bringing it from 25 to 12 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants by 2030.
To achieve this goal, Bintou Aliou Maïga stated that the tools and methodologies for data collection and processing of accidents must be improved to meet the commitment made by our country following the ratification of the African Road Safety Charter.
Indeed, this Charter requires parties to provide the most detailed data to the African Road Safety Observatory of African countries.
“This meeting is part of this dynamic by validating the accident data for the year 2023 in order to have reliable and harmonized statistics for road safety stakeholders, consultants, researchers, journalists, students,” declared the representative of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure. In addition, Bintou Aliou Maïga emphasized that the collected data will allow for assessing accident risks to guide decision-making in establishing priorities and implementing prevention measures for a better reinforcement of road safety.
MD/MD (AMAP)
Read the original article(French) on AMAP
