SLRSA holds public lectures and awareness on road safety

The Sierra Leone Road Safety Authority (SLRSA) has in a public lecture urged students to observe ‘Road Safety’ for better understanding and use of the roads.

The public lecture was organized on Friday 8^th May, 2015 at the Mary Kingsley Auditorium, Fourah Bay College by the Mass Communications Department.

Dr. Sarah Finda Bendu, Executive Director of SLRSA, revealed that the lecture was organized to commemorate the United Nations Global Road Safety Week, dedicated to children and road safety on the theme “Students Awareness on Road Safety for Better Understanding of the Usage of the Roads,”

She disclosed in her pictorial presentation that road safety is a global concern not only for public health and injury prevention, but also to improve efficiency in traffic management as a means of combating the effects of climate change as road traffic crashes are routine occurrences on roads throughout the world that result to thousands of people losing their lives daily while many more are left with disabilities or emotional scars.

Dr. Bendu furthered that children and young adults are the most vulnerable in road accidents adding that to lose a child is not easy, especially to a preventable accident underlining that many other people are left in pain and suffering and that accidents also leave families and communities with emotional wounds that take decades to heal.

“Yearly, around 80,000 children aged 5-4 in developing countries lose their right to education for a single tragic reason: they are killed on our roads, often making the journey to school,” she added.

The SLRSA Executive Director said that pedestrians and the young are at risk on the road for, among others, poor behavior and knowledge of road safety, poor facilities, unsafe routes to school or college, and poor right and little power adding that the causes of road crashes are over speeding, unsafe acceleration, poor road structures and drivers’ lack of knowledge about road signs.

She furthered that others are due to drivers with blurred eye sights, use of handheld mobile phones while driving, drug abuse, lack of sensitivity and responsibility on the path of state authorities continuing that traffic collisions can lead to significant deaths and disability that result to financial loss, property damage, injuries and lawsuits.

The SLRSA Director also appealed to pedestrians, especially youngsters, to be responsible while using the roads by knowing how to travel safely to and from school, understanding the highway codes, identifying and understanding the causes of traffic crashes and how to reduce the risks revealing that road traffic crashes have cost Sierra Leone 1.3% of GDP, including materials, medical cost and lost productivity.

The Minister of Transport and Aviation, Mr. Leonard Balogun Koroma articulated that SLRSA was set up to regulate and coordinate development in the transport sector as well as register, license vehicles and issue driving licenses to drivers, examine and test vehicles all in collaboration with the police.

He added that the vision of the SLRSA is to deliver goods and services on safe and more efficient roads across the country emphasizing that Sierra Leone has immense problems with road safety and management as the country has experienced enormous road crashes.

Mr. Leonard Balogun Koroma furthered that to minimize road crashes, SLRSA has made significant strides in promoting awareness campaigns on road safety through radio programs, symposiums and workshops among others concluding by urging every Sierra Leonean to help promote road safety messages which would significantly help to reduce risks on the roads.

Stay with Sierra Express Media, for your trusted place in news!