Release date: 27 February 2008
TRANSAID WORKS TO MAKE AFRICAN ROADS SAFER
Ask most people to name a problem overwhelming Africa and they will reply:
"Aids." After all Annie Lennox, Bob Geldof, and goodness knows how many other ageing rock stars have taken a media circus with them to highlight the plight of poor communities ravaged by this illness. And it is a problem that world should be aware of and address. But there is another huge killer in Africa, the biggest killer of young men after Aids that hardly anyone talks about - road deaths.
96% of children who die in road accidents die in poor countries. What's more it is predicted that the death toll on the roads will increase in underdeveloped countries by 80% by 2020. Why? Because there will be more people, more vehicles, but just as many holes in the road, just as little driver training and just as little maintenance so that buses and trucks filled with as many as 100 children can career off roads. Think of that. 100 children. 44 died outright. If those children died in a genocidal act there would be an outcry. A white child goes missing in the UK and there are helicopter searches. But 100 students get driven to their deaths by an untrained driver or a decrepit truck and it barely makes the local news in Zambia, let alone anywhere else. Sadly this was not an isolated incident.
Transport isn't sexy - we've always known this in the UK road transport industry. But while we can groan about the essential service we provide being overlooked and undervalued in the UK it is time the media, the charities and the government woke up to the absolutely essential need for transport education and management in undeveloped nations. Without transport, you cannot lift people out of poverty, build communities, provide hospitals or schools or take anyone to them. Without transport education you cannot save the lives of countless people who die daily on the roads.
My cousin, Chris Mannion, was a Marist brother in Cameroon. He gave his life - literally - to helping Africa's people, educating its young. On the day he took his driving test the examiner sat in the car with him and said:
"Father, do you tell lies?" "No." "Well, then tell me. Can you drive?"
"Yes." "Congratulations," said the examiner. "You've passed." When I heard this story, many years ago, I laughed. I don't find it funny any more.
This is a quote from an FIA Foundation report: "More than 1.2 million people are killed and 15 million seriously injured each year in road crashes. In total, up to 500 million people may be injured in road crashes annually, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The majority of these, about 85%, occur in those countries classified by the World Bank as being low or middle income."
I would like to congratulate Transaid and all those people from the UK road transport industry who help it in its work to take sustainable transport systems to Africa and other countries. The world cannot afford to underestimate the importance of the work they do.
ends
Posted by Louise Cole on February 27, 2008 on The Road Transport Blog
www.roadtransport.com
