UN-led road safety initiative kicks off in Ethiopia

Abstract

Road accidents claimed over 5000 lives in Ethiopia during the 2017/2018 fiscal year. Related property damage is estimated at $31 million for the same period. This is according to the Ethiopian National Road Safety Council. It is against this backdrop that a United Nations initiative to enhance road safety kicked off in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 16 May 2019 with a focus on reviewing the country’s road safety performance. The importance of the road safety performance review was highlighted by Robert Lisinge, Chief of ECA’s Energy, Infrastructure and Services Section, who chaired the session. Issues related to data, road safety audits, inspections, and stakeholder coordination were amongst the problem-areas identified during the inception meeting, which brought together representatives of Ethiopia’s ministries of transport, health and education, EC and ECE. The review exercise will result in a report that will be launched and handed over to the government of Ethiopia.