The Ministry of Transport has published a guide for road safety agents in view of harmonising their activities on the filed.

Road accidents are a major cause of deaths in the world. In Cameroon fatal road accidents are on the rise since the mid 80s. Statistics show that at least 1200 deaths and over 6000 wounded cases costing over FCFA 80 billion have been recorded during this period. It is for this reason that a two-day training seminar to explain the guide for road safety agents and the legal framework for issuing transport documents opened in Yaounde yesterday.

Organised by the Ministry of Transport, the training workshop brings together divisional delegates of transport, regional chiefs of transport, senior officials of the Ministry of Transport and the forces of law and order in charge of road safety in the Ministry of Transport. The aim of the workshop is to reinforce the capacities of the participants to master road safety measures. Following systematic control of car documents by some road safety agents on the principal highways, the Ministry of Transports, with the technical assistance of a private consultant has published a guide for road safety agents in view of valorising and harmonising the activities of road safety agents on the filed. For two days, the participants will listen to presentations on the state of vehicles, human behaviour, geometrical characterises of the road, among others. On the other hand, the participants who are newly appointed staff, will be equally trained on the legal procedure of issuing transport documents.

Opening the workshop, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Transport, Jean Pierre Soh, said systematic control of car documents by road safety agents made the public have a negative perception of road safety campaigns. He stressed the need for emphasis to be laid on the sensitisation of road users rather than the control of car documents. The Secretary General also called for the mastery of the procedure for issuing transport documents in an attempt to check fraud. The workshop ends today.