Defence Committee meets relevant stakeholders to address road accidents

The stakeholders engaged were the Ministries of Defence, Interior, and Works, office of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), representatives from the National Road Authority (NRA), Mobile Traffic Police Officials and Gambia Transport Union.

Speaking to the stakeholders, Seedy S. K. Njie, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly and  who also is the Chairperson of the Committee, made reference to the alarming surge in the number of road accidents on the country’s roads.

 “The rising toll of lives lost and the injuries sustained due to these accidents is cause for grave concern. Therefore, we deem it fitting to call on officers of the state in charge of roads and its safety to address these issues.”

Hon Njie acknowledged that ‘primarily’ these accidents are attributed to reckless driving, over speeding, bad roads, unworthiness of vehicles among others.

He equally questioned the issuance of driver’s license, which he said, are sometimes issued to minors or unqualified drivers worsen the situation,

“Such negligence in enforcing regulations and ensuring the competency of drivers poses a significant threat to the public’s safety. In response to these challenges the committee proposes the introduction of national speed limits enforcing through the deployment of speed cameras. This measure will curb reckless driving and enforce compliance with established speed regulations thereby reducing the incidents of accidents caused by over speeding.” 

Deputy Speaker Njie thus called for the collaboration of all stakeholders and citizens to comply with traffic rules which will help the authorities to minimise road accidents.

On his part, Momodou Sow, Deputy Inspector General, Gambia Police attributed the recent increase in road accidents to attitude.

He said he is aware of a host of reasons contributing to these issues “However, the attitude of drivers and other road users contribute greatly to this menace.”

Ebrima Colley, Deputy Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Transport, revealed that his Ministry is concerned about these issues.

“We have been working with our stakeholders to address this. We established a road safety office where they do sensitise communities on road safety issues and how to comply with traffic laws.”

He spoke about plans which include working on new packages for the police to effect regulations on the roads.