Luanda – Angolan minister of Transport Ricardo de Abreu said Thursday in Luanda that the country is seeking to halve the number of the road accidents by 2030, aimed to guarantee the economic sustainability.
The minister, who mentioned the statistics, said the number of death and serious injury-related road accidents in the country stands at ten thousand per year.
Speaking at the International Conference on Accidents and Road Safety, the official said the move represents and demonstrates the Executive’s commitment to the sustainable development goal.
He explained that the National Strategy for Road Safety and Prevention, approved for the four-year period 2019/2022, represents a key step towards the launch of concrete actions.
In order to achieve this goal, Ricardo de Abreu said the country is working on the quality of road infrastructure, the setting of standards for layouts and pavements, as well as ensuring their maintenance, adequate signage and lighting.
The minister defended, as a top priority, the need to create an emergency system that allows to reduce the time needed to help victims of road accidents.
He also spoke of the management and coordination of road safety, which establishes integrated information systems for the collection of statistics and their corresponding analysis.
From an institutional point of view, he said the country created recently the National Land Transport Agency, a body with more autonomy and independence for regulation, supervision and inspection throughout the country.
The minister announced the acquisition of an integrated technological platform, called SITRAGO, which will be the main one for the management, compilation and integration of all existing road means in circulation in the national territory.
On the other hand, he recalled that important regulations on the matter have already been approved, such as that related to motorbike taxi activity.
The others are being prepared and updated to regulate the collective and private transport of people and cargo.
During the conference, participants addressed, among other topics, “The social and economic impact of road accidents”, “Perspectives and challenges for operators in the transport sector” and “Research, education and training of drivers”.
Source: Angola Press News Agency