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Posted - 22 Apr 2022 : 18:38:14
‘Gambian roads transformed to abattoirs for people’
The Point: Apr 22, 2022
By: Cherno Omar Bobb
https://thepoint.gm/africa/gambia/headlines/gambian-roads-transformed-to-abattoirs-for-people
Seedy Sheriff Ceesay, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for Coastal Security and Coastal Enterprise has said that our roads have been “transformed to an abattoir for people.”
Ceesay earlier this year called for fundamental road reforms in the country to curb the unending road accidents.
Mr. Ceesay, who recently spearheaded a campaign to look at how traffic on our roads are managed, added that what they uncovered is “horrific and unexpected in the 21st century in a country like The Gambia.”
The Gambia is rated 4th in the world for road accidents and Ceesay said the Road Traffic Act must be amended and an authority for Drivers and Vehicles Licensing Agency set up.
The last few months has seen serious increase in road fatality with loss of many lives, he lamented, statingthat speeding, rash driving, violation of rules, failure to understand signs, fatigue, driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol contribute to the rampant accidents on Gambian roads.
“Every year Gambian roads kill hundreds of lives. It brings untold suffering to the victims and their families. The injured people lead a very miserable life. Overtaking tendency of our drivers, the hard conditions of roads, faulty vehicles, lack of traffic rules, and regulations are the main causes of the accidents,” he also said.
Mr. Ceesay further said that very little has been done to address frequent road accidents in the country and it is getting too late to act as people lose their lives almost on a daily basis due to road accidents.
He highlighted that all stakeholders including the National Road Authority, The Gambia Police Force, president Adama Barrow and Ministry of Work, Transport and Infrastructure need to do something about the rampant road accidents.
“If we continue to ignore these fatalities on our roads then nobody is safe,” he said, noting that it is very clear that someone somewhere is not doing their job.
“The National Road Authority, The Gambia Police Force and presidency need to sit up because it is unacceptable that on a daily basis, lives are lost in the country just because someone somewhere has a laissez-faire attitude towards accidents and lives of Gambian people,” CEO Ceesay said.
“We cannot continue to condone this reckless behavior of drivers who are often under the influence of drugs and alcohol on our roads,” he further said, adding that, The Gambia Police Force for the longest time has played lip service to protecting lives on our roads as well as the National Road Authority in dealing with these crises on our roads.
According to him, it is time Gambian citizens step up and challenge authorities responsible for our roads to address the frequent road accidents as we are losing mothers, fathers, uncles and children because of reckless behavior of certain individuals. |
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