By Lamin Njie
The Ministry of Transport, Works and Infrastructure in collaboration with stakeholders will soon embark on a nationwide road traffic crash victim survey.
According to officials of the ministry, the information collected during the mapping out exercise will serve as the basis and methods for financial and material support for road crash victims. It will also help to create a database for road crash victims in the country with findings used to help to create an association for the road crash victims in the country.
According to the Global Status Report (WHO 2018), more than 1.35 million people each year are killed in road traffic crashes around the world, while an additional 20 to 50 million are injured by these accidents. Road traffic injuries are among the world’s leading causes of death for individuals between the ages of one and thirty in all countries around the world.
In The Gambia, road traffic injuries and fatalities are increasing annually. As highlighted in the Gambia Police Force road traffic injuries annual report 2021, 13percent of road crashes resulted in fatalities, 36percent to serious injuries, 27percent to minor injuries and 25percent non-crash injuries.
Crash data collection in The Gambia is mostly manual usually done at the police stations and hospitals with no proper synchronisation of data among institutions. This lack of harmonisation leads to data being duplicated or not recorded.
The United Nations passed and adopted a resolution on 26 October 2005 to mark the third Sunday in November each year as International Remembrance Day for road traffic victims. The Gambia have been the commemorating this important event every year over the past years.
