The Executive Director of Safe Life Liberia alarms over increase of deaths in the country as a result of road accident.The group discloses that Liberia has lost about 1,700 lives as the result of road accidents, and stresses that road safety is something that matters to the wellbeing of citizens and the general public.
Addressing a news conference on Monday, October 29, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Monrovia, the Executive Director of Safe Life Liberia Vasco T. Masseh notes road-related deaths and injuries are sudden, violent, traumatic events, and their impacts are long-lasting and often permanent.
He explains everyday newly bereaved and injured people from every corner of the country are added to thousands of citizens that are already suffering as the result of road crash, noting that the sense of grief and distress of this huge group of people is greater because many of the victims are young.
“It’s unfortunate to inform the President and the Liberian people that Liberia has lost 1700 lives, and 7 percent of its GDP in 2017 alone due to the road crashes, and 2018 is predicted even more worse, according to World Health Organization [WHO’s] reports and experts approximations.”
According to him, Safe Life Liberia is an association of road accident victims in Liberia that is calling on President George M. Weah to lead national road safety campaign with urgent action as it was done by former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf who stood up against the deadly Ebola virus, rape, and other national disasters.
He laments road traffic death and severe injuries have become a serious national epidemic with too many innocent citizens losing their lives, saying though Safe Life Liberia commends the recent endorsement of a national road safety action plan by President Weah, but “We are saddened by the unprecedented deaths and injuries that continue to occur on various roads.
He regrets that road crashes have become a potential killer of innocent citizens especially, young people.The group quotes the Police as saying four persons suffer deaths on various community roads, while 100 suffer severe injuries as the result of road crashes, so it is against this backdrop that it calls for President Weah’s intervention to help reduce the unnecessary death of citizens.
“we like to use this opportunity to remind President Weah that these troubling situations were inherited from the past administration, where the Presidential motorcade of former President Sirleaf killed two innocent kids at the ELWA Junction on November 30, 2016”, he recalls.
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He says just last Saturday, six persons reportedly died along the Monrovia-Gbarnga highway, and President Weah must act now.The group further recommends to government to launch a monthly national road safety awareness campaign to be styled “Weah Road Safety Day” to conduct a national drivers training program for every driver in the country.
By Lewis S. Teh–Editing by Jonathan Browne
