Pauline Etienne
24 August 2007
Port Louis — The number of serious accidents has been on the rise since January. Education is not enough and there should be recruitment in the police force to deter those who are not abiding by the law.
"There is obviously a very limited number of policemen attached to the traffic unit and we will do our best to respond to the call made by the police," declared the ministry of Public infrastructure, Rashid Beebeejaun, just after two-hour discussions on road safety yesterday. The need for more resources on roads to make sure drivers abide by traffic regulations thus driving more safely was one of the main recommendations of this brainstorming session organised by the ministry of Public infrastructure, Land transport and Shipping.
The organisation of the workshop followed a mere statement. "The road crashes figures for the first six months of this year were disastrous with an increase in the number of fatalities by more than 57.8% and seriously injured by 65.8% in road crashes, as compared to last year's figures for the corresponding period," revealed minister Beebeejaun, as he introduced the session. "Something had to be done to stop that carnage," Dave Nathoo, principal engineer at the Traffic Management and Road Safety Unit (TMRSU), added. It is true that there has been an improvement in road safety over the ten past years but the trend since the beginning of the year was obviously high enough to justify this brainstorming session.
"We wanted to look at our weaknesses and see how we could take action with all stakeholders to reverse the trend," said Dave Nathoo. Actions will have to be taken at different levels such as health, education, road infrastructure, police, the National Transport Authority and more others to make sure solutions are found. This is what the ministry wanted to start today to reach the main objectives of "50% less deaths by 2015, reducing the number of deaths and seriously injured by 30% in 2010 and raising awareness about the impact of road traffic injuries amongst the road users", the minister pointed out.
"A culture of road safety"
A few initiatives are already ongoing like the road safety clubs implemented in 16 schools. For Dave Nathoo, it is clear that one of the main reasons for an increase in the number of serious accidents is the "irresponsible behaviour of some drivers". This is why education at an early level appears so important. Hence, this pilot-project in a few schools and its impact will be assessed in about a year before multiplying the initiative in other schools.
But more importantly, there should be a "culture of road safety" as underlined by Kris Ponnusamy, the senior chief executive of the ministry of Public infrastructure. For Chief inspector Ben Buntipilly, this culture should be implemented as early as primary level through play activities. But Jonathan Richmond, transport adviser for the government, even suggested going further with the "formal introduction of road safety courses into the curriculum".
But the solution does not lie in education only. "People know they should not use their mobile phones when driving or drink and drive but many continue doing so," noted Rashid Beebeejaun.
This is why the number of policemen should be increased on the roads. "It is not possible to enforce the law in a systematic way because of that," said a policeman present. As a result, drivers know that the police are at certain points and abide by road regulations only in those places while they can continue doing whatever they want elsewhere. "It is like fishing in a barrel. The police will go to a place where they will easily get 'clients' for their fines. It is human," admitted another member of the assistance. "People need to see the police on the road," acknowledged Dave Nathoo.
But drivers are not the only ones responsible for accidents. In the past, officers of the ministry took remedial actions at "accident black spots" to make sure they would become less dangerous. This is how the You Voon junction at Beau-Bassin and the site along Tamarin Village and Flic-en-Flac junction were both reviewed in view of the high number of accidents occurring there. "No serious accident has been noticed at this location in Beau-Bassin since 1999," revealed Caderassen Dorsamy, the acting officer-in- charge of the Road Development Authority.
"Better dialogue for more collaboration"
However, there are other "black spots" that have not been taken into consideration by the authorities yet. The St-Jean junction is among them and some people think it is due to poor signage. "There is no clear indication of the right way to choose," said a participant. The Pont-Fer roundabout is another of those dangerous places.
The lack of funds to employ more people and bring changes in the infrastructure was also been raised as a crucial issue. Jonathan Richmond concluded that there "should be a better dialogue between the ministry of Finance and the technical staff of the Public infrastructure ministry so that there is more collaboration". The representative of the Finance ministry, however, made it clear that funds could be allocated for "specific projects, if they are properly justified ".
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