By Lovemore Khomo
Minister of Transport and Public Works Jacob Hara has said the launch of National Road Safety Strategy will help to take action on improvement of safety in the roads of Malawi.
Hara was speaking during both commemoration of 2023 African Road Safety Day and launch of National Road Safety Strategy at Mitole Ground in Chikwawa on Friday, 8 December.
Commemoration was held under the theme “Open Vehicles Are A Death Trap, Use Secure Vehicles”
The National Road Safety Strategy has five key result areas which include Road Safety Management, Safer Roads and Mobility, Safer Road Users, Safe Vehicles and Post-Crash Response.
“The strategy has been aligned to the Second Decade of Action that aims at 50% reduction in road traffic fatalities and serious injuries by the year 2030 in line with the global plan.” elaborated Hara.
He explained that the process of developing the strategy was inclusive such that all key stakeholders were involved and consulted. “We have a strategy that talks to our situation and is very applicable in our country.”
On technical part, Director of Road Traffic and Safety Services, Andrew Sandula told the gatherers that the world is currently facing a high occurrence of road traffic deaths, and Malawi is no exception.
Sandula said the global road crash situation shows that millions of lives are lost annually due to road crashes, resulting in a huge loss of both the financial and much needed human resources.
Malawi despite having a small proportion of the world’s total motor vehicle fleet and road network, it registered 5,553 road crashes in 2022 a majority of which were 919 fatal and 1,068 people lost their lives compared to 1,226 fatal road accidents reported in 2021 where 1,444 people died representing 25% and 26% decrease respectively.
“Although there has been a noticeable 26% drop in fatalities when compared to statistics from 2021 the numbers remained higher when considering the reasons behind these collisions and Malawi’s goal to reduce road traffic fatalities and injuries by 50% by 2030.” explained Sandula.
For instance, Chikwawa alone experienced 13 fatal, 3 serious and 7 minor crashes in the year 2022 as compared to 2021 which had 25 fatal,11 serious and 11 minor crashes.
Every year the lives of approximately 1.35 million people are cut short as a result of road traffic crashes. Furthermore, between 20 and 50 million more people suffer non-fatal injuries, with many incurring a disability as a result of traffic related injuries.
