However, many drivers do not heed these traffic signs. And this is evident in the high number of accidents usually recorded across the length and breadth of the country.
To know what the public makes of the violations of traffic signs, The Point’s reporter went out and about to gauge the opinions of some residents within the Kanifing Municipality.
Malamin Jadama, a resident of New Jeshwang, says different traffic signs are marked on highways. These traffic signs range from zebra crossings to speed bumps or ‘sleeping police’, speed limits, and the list goes on.
Jadama says the presence of traffic signs does not seem to have much value towards aiding easy flow of the traffic, since most drivers neglect the signs and ply the roads as they deem right with them.
Jerreh Manneh, another concerned Gambian, stresses the need for drivers to respect the traffic signs. He emphasises that drivers should respect the fact that most of the roads are one way but they always choose to ply the zebra crossing recklessly. He subscribes to the fact that the traffic should be moving smoothly and that the roads are to be in standard form. "Speeding should be discouraged because it only leads to accidents,” he says.
Binta Njie is another concerned citizen who spoke to The Point. She believes that there should be mutual understanding between drivers and passengers when they are plying the roads and the traffic signs should be respected to minimize accidents and for the well-being of the country.
“The mutual understanding between drivers and passengers has to be cordial in traffic. But this does not seem to be the case as sometimes the speeding by drivers is just too awful and dangerous, which usually sparks some quarrel. And drivers and apprentice can sometimes be arrogant to the passengers and even police officers. In any case, the sleeping police or zebra crossing has to be taken seriously,” Binta says.
According to her, drivers usually neglect the traffic signs, leading most times to avoidable car crashes and deaths. Hence road accidents continue to rise in the small West African nation of The Gambia.
Latest statistics have it that more than 750 road traffic accidents occur in The Gambia annually, and experts say 95% of these accidents are preventable traffic crashes. Furthermore, data from the Gambia police states that on average, 775 road traffic accidents have been occurring in The Gambia annually over the past ten years.
