For several months now Cameroon Road
Safety Foundation (CAROSAF), has been regularly in the news due to its sustained
road safety campaign, ahead of the 50th Anniversary celebrations of
Cameroon’s reunification, bill for Buea this December.
The Recorder Editor Christopher
Ambe, engaged the CAROSAF national coordinator during the formal launch of the
campaign at Buea motor park by the Governor of the Southwest Region, Bernard
Okala Bilai. Read on:
Mr. Edwin Minang, you are the National Coordinator
of Cameroon Road safety Foundation (CAROSAF). Since the removal of the ridge on
the over 8km double-lane road in Buea several months ago in connection with celebrations
marking 50th anniversary of the reunification of Cameroon, your NGO has been
involved in a Road safety Campaign. Could you tell the nature of this campaign?
Cameroon Road safety Foundation exists since
2008 and our objectives amongst other things include:
- -
Promoting a culture of Safety amongst
road users
- -
Build Road Safety Partnerships
- -
Create/strengthen Road safety
stakeholder groups
- -
Help in the implementation of Road
safety measures
One of the permanent
on-going projects we have since the 2008/2009 academic year is the “School
Traffic Controllers” project in the towns of Buea and Limbe. So when the middle
ridge of the main boulevard in Buea was removed prior to the start of the
2013/2014 academic year, we decided to scale-up the School Traffic Controllers
project to help nursery & primary school pupils cross the road. Within the
framework of this project, trained traffic controllers along the busy Buea
Boulevard from Mile 17 Motor Park to the Buea Central Police round about were
increased and they have been helping pupils cross the road at peak periods -
the morning and afternoon. So in collaboration with the Buea Council, this is
how we have tried to help reduce the chaos that was envisaged by inhabitants of
Buea before the start of this school year in September. I must say that, since
this school Traffic Controllers project started on the 02nd of
September 2013, no child has been hit by a vehicle along this boulevard during
school hours.
What prompted the setting up of CAROSAF and
which are some of its major achievements so far?
Sometime in 2008, we
lost a friend through a ghastly motor accident and as such my friends and I
started thinking of how we can help fight against the carnage of road crashes.
This is how a pool of experts in Highway & Transportation Engineers,
Medical & Paramedical Practitioners, Educationists and other individuals
created Cameroon Road safety Foundation (CAROSAF).
CAROSAF major
achievements include:
-
The implementation since its creation of the School Traffic
Controllers Project in the towns of Buea
and Limbe in the Southwest region of Cameroon,
-
The celebration Since 2010 of the World
Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims,
-
We
have created a Road safety Club in the National Advanced School of Public
Works-Annex Buea,
-
We have been sensitizing Buea township
taxi drivers, inter -city bus drivers & truck drivers
on road safety
-
We have signed a partnership agreement
with the Buea Council on Road safety & Highway Injury Prevention. Within
the framework of this partnership, CAROSAF acts as the technical partner to the
Buea Council on issues of road safety.
-
Attended high level Road safety
Conferences abroad- one of which was the 2nd African Road Safety
Conference in 2011 in Addis Ababa when the African Plan of Action for the
Decade of Action for Road safety 2011-2020 was adopted.
We have noticed that your NGO has launched –starting
from late November, a long Road Safety Campaign to last until January 2014. Why
such a long campaign and what are the activities?
As earlier mentioned,
CAROSAF celebrates every year since its creation the World Day of Remembrance
for Road Traffic Victims which is a United Nations Day that offers an annual
opportunity to increase public awareness of the burden of road traffic
collisions on communities, and to emphasize the need to initiate & promote
efforts to control this major public health and development problem. The
Special Road safety campaign launched on the 24th of November 2013
was a decision arrived at by CAROSAF and the Administration of the South West
Region under the patronage of the Governor.It was dubbed “Special Road Safety campaign for
the Celebration of 50 years of Reunification of Cameroon”. You know in the days
ahead, thousands of people will be moving to the Southwest Regional
headquarters of Buea for this epoch making event and we thought it wise to re-awaken
road users (motorists & pedestrians) by carrying out Road Safety
Sensitization & Awareness Raising Campaigns.
As concerns the
activities for this Special Road Safety Campaign, after the launch by the
Governor on Sunday the 24th of November,
he opened an Exhibition of road accident pictures at mile 17 which shall be
opened to the public till the close of the campaign in January.
From Monday 25th
to Saturday 30th of November, there shall be sensitization meetings
with Buea township taxi drivers and other motorists within the Buea
municipality, sensitization meeting with bus drivers and heavy duty truck drivers
(transporters of sand & gravel).
During every sensitization meeting, there shall be distribution of
flyers and stickers that have road safety slogans e.g over speeding=Accident.
From Monday, the 2nd
to 7th of December, sensitization and training on management
techniques of vehicle tires by MICHELLIN company, sensitization &
refreshment courses of motor park drivers, travelling agencies drivers and
corporation drivers charged with the transportation of people to Buea for the
celebrations.
From Thursday 07th
December to the end of Campaign, Special preventive Gendarmerie controls at
various points along the road to Kumba, road to Mutengene, to Limbe and along
the Tiko-Douala stretch of road, visits to nursery & primary schools within
Buea to give brief lectures on how to use the roads as pedestrians,
sensitization with random distribution of stickers, flyers and gadgets to
private cars drivers within Buea municipality, Radio slots on Road safety,
Ohoto exhibition still continuing at mile 17.
Friday
the 3rd of January 2014, unveiling of Road
safety Bill Boards respectively at Mile 14 and Liongo stretch of road by the
Divisional Officer of Buea and the Mayor
of Buea
Saturday
04th of January 2014: press Conference and
a round table discussion forum with various road safety stakeholders (Delegation
of Transport, Forces of Law & Order, Drivers’ syndicates, the media etc) at
CAROSAF office, suite 8, Fakoship Plaza.
Is road safety the
concern of a select group of people?
No.! Road Safety must be everybody‘s responsibility!.
From the highest levels of Government, through state corporations, public
institutions, schools, churches, the general public, we should all put our
efforts to fight this new epidemic of road accidents, which is likened to the
epidemic level of malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.
What
are the challenges you face implementing your road safety campaign?
As every other public
awareness campaign, we have some difficulties in the field with some
uncooperative motorists who still do not want to adhere to the advice that we
go out there and give them. We also are
limited in terms of financial capacity to reach out to a broader spectrum of
road users but we hope as the public gets aware of the humanitarian catastrophe
that road crashes is, we shall receive some significant support to implement
the GOOD Road Practices that we preach.
What is the coverage scope of CAROSAF?
Our Plan is to cover
the whole of the Republic as the name of the Organization depicts but for the
time being we are focusing our activities within the south west region. We are
using the town of Buea as a Road Safety Model Town and the successful road
safety projects that we carry out in Buea shall be replicated in other towns of
the Republic of Cameroon if the means are available.
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