Facilitating awareness deepening forums in connection with the annual event meant to take stock of past traffic related issues all over the country (Ethiopia) and chart out future courses of action can downsize the expected traffic accidents that surface either due to drivers’ negligence or pedestrians’ reluctances, the Federal Ministry of Transport said.
According to the Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA) maintenance district and innovation director engineer Habtamu Tegegne, the organization comes up with different troubleshooting mechanizes to arrest the car accidents that claim the lives of many in every corner of the country.
The director indicated that Ethiopia is atop the list that shows death toll related to road traffic accidents. Tragically, the country loses over thousands of people every year to such accidents. Similarly, several thousand people sustain severe injuries.
He stressed that both pedestrian and drivers could take care to save each other’s lives. In this way, we all can get save bilaterally.
Banchu Bota is a resident of Addis Ababa is a volunteer traffic police she noted deaths occurring due to car accidents are double deaths, for the victims’ extended family apart from being smote by grief, the hope of finical support they vested in their sons and daughters gets up in smoke. It is not hard to surmise how lacerating the sadness of the bereaved will be. So, in the joint effort not only the government but also citizens could play a role in creating awareness during traditional coffee ceremonies.
She stressed that to parry such tragic episodes the drivers’ license issuing system must be amended. It has to be fully controlled by a responsible government body. Things could be supervised and checked by conducting a continuous assessment work. The government’s body has to monitor how drivers abide by the set rules and regulations and also how beneficiaries are faring.
In other words, seeing to road-using culture and equipping roads with appropriate road traffic sensors and cameras are pending crucial tasks.
Asmamaw Enyew, on his part said, “The measure that should be taken must commensurate with the enormity of the damage but must not be aimed at collecting fines.”
In other ways, he said “the measure should be done by the book and the book alone but not on ethnic affiliation, blood ties, friendship and bribes”.
“We are in the process of embracing affluence making new worlds. But we suffer from huge death tolls caused by car accidents. To suggest a few of these strategic solutions: First, Ethiopian engineers must come-up with home-developed engines like sensor machines. They must also teach how to properly handle the engines”.
Second, we are the founder and the leader of the Ethiopian-African Renaissance in which case both the Ministry of Transportation and all of us are required to participate at each point of time in saving human lives”.
All interviewees are of the consensus that, measures should be ethical and done by the book, both drivers and pedestrians’ road usage rules have to be respected, and the road traffic technology serving around the globe should be implemented depending on the development level of the country.
The Ethiopian Herald December 5/2019
BY MUSSA MUHAMMED
