The First African Road Safety Day will be launched on 18 November 2012, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Pursuant to the African Union Assembly decisions to remember the third Sunday of each November as an African Road Safety Day which is also the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, will be jointly celebrated with the African Union Commission, United Nations Economic Commission, WHO, Government of Ethiopia and other key road safety stakeholders.

The respected ceremony will be held in several African cities to raise awareness on the road safety issues among stakeholders and encourage community involvement for the traffic related injury and death prevention activities.

Traffic accidents constitute a considerable expense for society; every year 1.2 million people world-wide are killed on road and 50 million are injured.  In March 2012, the UN general Assembly took steps to address this enormous global problem by proclaiming the Decade of Action for Road safety 2011-2020 (the Decade). The resolution urged countries to decrease road traffic deaths through multi-sectorial collaboration/interventions in both public and private sectors, with the involvement of civil society.

Road safety in Africa is part of the broader development process. Because of the rapid economic growth in Africa is part of the broader development process. Because of the rapid economic growth in Africa, both public and private vehicle fleets are expected to continue to grow rapidly in the coming years, creating tremendous pressure on the insufficient road infrastructure.

Without effective action, traffic deaths in the region are expected to increase sharply within this decade.  This situation is particularly worrying the continent because of the combination of high number of vulnerable road users, poor vehicle condition, under-developed infrastructure, lack of risk awareness, and ineffective enforcement jeopardized by weak institutional arrangements.

The Day will become an important tool in Africa’s efforts to reduce road casualties. It will offer an opportunity for drawing attention to the scale of emotional and economic devastation caused by road crashes and for giving recognition to the suffering of road crash victims and the work of support and rescue services.

“Safer Roads for African’s Sustainable Development”