Just How Unsafe Are Africa’s Roads?
A lady sells items in site visitors in Accra in April 2020 (photograph by Nipah Dennis)
Highway security doesn’t at all times garner headlines. But around the globe, vehicles stay one of many major threats to human life – and the largest hazard to individuals beneath the age of 30.
That’s very true in Africa, the world’s most unsafe area to be a pedestrian or bike owner. (Europe is the most secure.) One main cause for the excessive toll in Africa is weak legal guidelines round security measures like velocity limits.
A brand new report by the UN Atmosphere Programme (UNEP), the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), and the Walk21 Basis attaches some numbers to the issue. In keeping with the report, Strolling and Biking in Africa – Proof and Good Apply to Encourage Motion:
– On common, 261 pedestrians and 18 cyclists are killed every day on roads in Africa.
– Solely 3% of all registered autos are in Africa.
– But 20% of all highway site visitors deaths happen in Africa.
– Automobiles precise a large loss of life toll not solely from direct accidents, but additionally attributable to air air pollution, which accounts for over 1 million deaths a yr in Africa.
– Nigeria has about 20 occasions the inhabitants of Sweden, however over 80 occasions as many highway deaths.
– Other than the human tragedies, highway deaths and critical accidents value Africa extra in GDP than every other continent. This was estimated at 9% of GDP in 2016.
Regardless of these stark figures, Strolling and Biking in Africa identifies some optimistic examples. One is the Pedestrian Security Motion Plan in Accra, Ghana, which led to the development of a pedestrian walkway and changes to pedestrian crossings. On the Lapaz intersection on Freeway N1, pedestrians initially had simply 18 seconds to cross 14 lanes of site visitors. Following the security evaluation, this crossing time was prolonged to 42 seconds. Pedestrian deaths at this intersection subsequently dropped.
Security opinions like this will appear frequent sense, however they require funding and political will to place into follow. The place to begin is just imagining the numerous changes to metropolis design and security rules that put Africa’s walkers and cyclists – who in spite of everything are the vast majority of the highway customers – first.
