Ethiopia reported 17 percent lower road accidents during its past fiscal year which ended on July 8th, 2020, an official has said.
According to a UN report on the road safety performance in Ethiopia early this year, 13 people die in road traffic accidents each day in the country.
According to the report, the country’s asphalt pavement covers only 14% out of total road length but about 80% of the road accidents occur on asphalt road.
Minister of Transport Dagmawit Moges on Sunday attributed the decline in the road accident vis a vis the previous year to better road safety awareness raising campaign carried out at the national level.
About 85% of all road traffic accidents occur in the Oromia, Amhara and SNNP regional states of the country as well as Addis Ababa city.
Road traffic accidents are a huge public health and development problem in Ethiopia. Its current situation requires a high level political commitment, immediate decisions and actions in order to curb the growing problem. Otherwise, it will get worse from day-to-day as motorization and population increase rapidly.
Drivers’ and pedestrians’ lack of awareness, poor technical inspections of vehicles, older vehicles, driving licence problems and poor road quality were mentioned as the main cause for road accidents in Ethiopia.
MG/abj/APA