By Lamin Njie
Road traffic safety is a major public health problem and a development challenge in The Gambia. Currently, road traffic-related deaths and injuries are becoming a great burden on citizens as well as government agencies and departments, thus the need for greater collaboration by different stakeholders in reducing or preventing traffic accidents on our roads.
School children demonstrating on how to use zebra crossing
In a bid to address this menace, the Ministry of Transport, Works, and Infrastructure has developed a Road Safety Annual Work Plan for 2022. This include developing road safety activity book for school-going children, to familiarise themselves with some of the common road traffic signs and their interpretations in The Gambia. Already, approval was given by Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education (MoBSE) for the printing of the activity books. The main objective is to increase road safety awareness among school going-children. Some of these materials that were procured for distribution during the school sensitisation campaign include lollipop sticks, traffic cones, posters of traffic signs, reflective stickers, and safety vests to be used by the schools during morning and afternoon rush hours.
It is worthwhile to note that the Ministry of Transport, Works and Infrastructure has taken the lead in coordinating the planning and management of road safety activities in The Gambia, in line with recommendations from the UN Global Decade of Action on Road Safety, 2011–2020; which is to establish a High-Level National Road Safety Committee. The Ministry has already put in place the committee and comprises of major stakeholder institutions. The committee is the highest decision-making body (on road safety) in the country. Thus, the level of representation includes Permanent Secretaries/Managing Directors and Heads of Institutions, supported by technical expertise.
Furthermore, as part of this Ministry’s efforts to achieve zero fatalities and zero serious injuries on our roads, this Ministry has developed the Gambia Road Safety Strategy2020 to 2030. The strategy has been prepared to combat the menace of road traffic crashes, which are causing significant human misery and unbearable economic losses in The Gambia.
