IPNEWS: Liberia National Police with support from Red Cross Society has launched a weeklong “Road Safety Campaign in three counties.
Addressing a press conference Wednesday, Liberian Red Cross-National Secretary General Godfrey Blamo said that the Road Safety Awareness Campaign will take place in Grand Bassa, Margibi, and Bong Counties to help educate motorists about the use of roads and safety measures.
According to him, the awareness will help to minimize road accidents and improve road safety in the country.
Giving statistics on accidents globally Blamo said the accident has clam approximately thirty million lives, something he noted has created huge concern among individuals killed and injured on the road as well as the numbers of motor vehicles continue to grow.
About 139 persons have died as a result of road accidents involving motorists, occupants, and pedestrians across the country, the latest report released by the Public Safety Division of the Liberia National Police (LNP) has revealed.
LNP Chief of Public Safety John Saah disclosed that among those who died were 66 operators, 36 occupants, and 37 pedestrians. They were 115 males and 24 females.
The deaths occurred from the 1,380 accident cases reported across the country from January 1-September 30, 2022.
Mr. Saah disclosed that the cases reported include: car to car (406), a motorcycle to motorcycle (169), a tricycle to a tricycle (50), car to motorcycle (399), car to pedestrians (91), a tricycle to the car (55), Motorcycle to pedestrians (116), a tricycle to motorcycle (39) and self-accidents (81).
Mr. Saah disclosed that many Liberians and others continue to lose their lives as a result of the lack of training and awareness for users of roads across the country.
He said road safety should be a paramount concern for all road users in Liberia.
“In Liberia, our people are dying even more than those that have malaria. For more than 10 years now we have not had any good workshops or training for our motorists or road users in general. I feel that because of that, there are many who do not know the rules of the roads. They do not know how and when to drive and because of that, our people are dying.”
He used the occasion to call on all motorists to follow the driving rules every time, something he believes will save the feature.
Blamo revealed that during the week-long awareness, several road safety messages meant to educate road users on how to protect everyone’s lives will be included.
Liberian Red Cross-National Secretary General Godfrey Blamo vowed to promote safe roads that will enable everyone to enjoy a safe and healthy journey, noting that the week-long will also focus on the sanitization of hard speeding and all forms of reckless driving or riding, which is a major cause of accidents. (Courtesy of Emmanuel Toe )
