Road safety is the responsibility of all road users, according to Jean Todt.
In Senegal, road accidents have decreased significantly since the adoption of a series of measures including the ban on driving between midnight and 5am. Visiting the Senegalese capital, the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety, Jean Todt, said he was “reassured to see the importance that this pandemic holds in the
agenda of the Minister of Transport.”
“We know that the situation worldwide is absolutely unacceptable. Some 1.3 million people die on the roads every year. There are between 30 and 50 million people injured with disabilities. And we know what to
do,” Todt said during a visit to the National Road Safety Agency (ANASER) on Wednesday evening.
According to the UN Special Envoy, the commitment of the Senegalese government to reduce the number of victims “is absolutely essential.”
To do this, he said, many actions can be taken now, such as the sensitization of the population and users by emphasizing the importance of wearing a seat belt, wearing a helmet, not drinking or using his phone while driving.
“These are easy measures that would halve the number of victims on the road,” he said, adding that “it would be unfair to say that the responsibility lies solely with the state when it must be a matter of all road users.” According to him, it is a global effort that must be made to preserve the lives of the maximum number of people.
The Minister of Land Transport and Infrastructure, Mansour Faye, welcomed the visit of Mr. Todt and recalled the various initiatives taken by the State to preserve the lives of travelers and road users.
He announced that the process of renewing the fleet is underway and that “a batch of buses will soon be given to private actors.”
ARD/ac/fss/abj/APA