From: Haile Abraham (haileab99@msn.com)
Date: Mon Aug 24 2009 - 14:59:43 EDT
Hello Dehai,
Often times we find ourselves filled with satisfaction when we read about our young nation's great successes in many areas, such as fighting malaria, preventing drought and other exemplary achievements. But we all must be concerned by the recent global road traffic report by WHO, which place Eritrea in "Top Position" in lethal traffic accidents with 48 deaths per 100,000 people. And if you do the math, it could mean about 240,000 deaths among our 5 million population. That is a staggering number to even contemplate for a nation that seeks to engage each and every citizen in a productive task. The report attributes most of the fatal car accidents to the lack of basic safety measures, such limiting driving speed, reducing drunken-driving, and enforcing the use of seatbelts.
It is time that our government, especially the Department of Trasportation, takes this report and reverses this sad trend by enforcing all safety measure, especially the drinking and driving part.
Haile A.
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Sally Evans
Published:Aug 24, 2009
With speed limits, SA cops are behind Afghan cops
A WORLD Health Organisation global road safety report has found that the
policing of South Africa's traffic laws is virtually non-existent - but
traffic cops in war-torn Afghanistan are the most effective in the
world.
DOCUMENT: SA's shocking traffic law enforcement assessment
The WHO report, the first of its kind, contains an analysis of how
effective countries are in implementing road safety measures, including
limiting driving speed, reducing drunken-driving, and enforcing the use
of seatbelts.
The report, which includes data from 178 countries, found that
enforcement of drunken-driving, seat-belt and child-restraint laws in
South Africa scored a dismal two out of 10.
Despite South Africa being one of the 15% of countries with a
comprehensive raft of traffic laws, the report says "they are often
inadequately enforced".
But, with 37.7 road deaths per 100,000 population, South Africa is not
the most dangerous country on Earth to drive in.
According to the WHO report, Eritrea, in northeast Africa, holds that
position, with an estimated 48 deaths per 100,000 people in 2007,
closely followed by the South Pacific's Cook Islands, with 45 deaths per
100,000 people.
When it comes to enforcing urban speed limits, South Africa's speed cops
are far worse than those of Afghanistan, who scored a perfect 10 out of
10 for enforcing their 50km per hour limits.
But, despite their best efforts, Afghanistan remains one of the most
dangerous countries to drive in, with an estimated 39 deaths per 100,000
people in 2007.
Both Egypt and Libya fared poorly, with 41.6 and 40.5 deaths per 100,000
people respectively.
The UK reported only 5.4 deaths per 100,000 and Germany six deaths per
100,000.
The research found that over 90% of fatalities on the world's roads
"occur in low-income and middle-income countries, which have only 48% of
the world's registered vehicles".
Furthermore, the study suggests that, despite the number of road
traffic-related deaths stabilising in many high-income countries, "road
deaths are increasing in most regions of the world and that if trends
continue unabated they will rise to an estimated 2.4-million a year by
2030". The number of people who die in road accidents around the world
is about 1.27-million a year.
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