DESIGNED TO ENCOURAGE ROAD USERS TO IMPROVE THEIR BEHAVIOUR THROUGH STRICTER COMPLIANCE WITH SAFETY REGULATIONS AND SUPPORT VICTIMS OF ROAD ACCIDENT BY PROVIDING INNOVATIVE EMERGENCY RESPONSE AND CARE SERVICES
Road traffic injuries are a major public health problem and a leading cause of death and injury around the world. Each year nearly 1.2 million people die and millions more are injured or disabled as a result of road crashes, mostly in low-income and middle-income countries. As well as creating enormous social costs for individuals, families and communities, road traffic injuries place a heavy burden on health services and economies. The cost to countries, possibly already struggling with other development concerns, may well be 1%-2% of their gross national product.
As motorisation increases, road traffic crashes are a fast-growing problem, particularly in developing countries. If present trends continue unchecked, road traffic injuries will increase dramatically in most parts of the world over the next two decades, with the greatest impact falling on the most vulnerable citizens. Appropriate and targeted action is urgently needed.
In November 2009, the first Global Ministerial Conference on Road safety was organised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Moscow with a key objective of drawing attention to the need for action to address the large and growing impact of road traffic crashes in middle and low-income countries, particularly in Africa. Recognizing the tremendous global burden of fatalities resulting from road crashes, as well as the 20 million to 50 million people sustaining non-fatal traffic-related injuries each year, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly proclaimed that the period 2011-2020 be designated as the Decade of Action for Road Safety, with the goal of stabilizing and eventually reducing the number deaths and injuries.
It is against this background that concerned Sierra Leoneans at home and in the Diaspora agreed to support a Campaign for Safer Roads in Sierra Leone through the establishment of a Public Interest Organisation in 2011 and formed Road Safe Sierra Leone (RSSL), also known as Road Safe Salone, Campaign for Road Safety in Sierra Leone and Camsafe Salone.
Road Safe Sierra Leone is a charitable partnership which brings together private sector with government and road safety professionals.
Our mission is to reduce road deaths and injuries by supporting and encouraging partnerships between private sector businesses, traffic engineers, the police, public health authorities and road safety professionals to promote the safe design and use of vehicles and roads by sharing knowledge and encouraging innovation.
We bring together representatives from government, the vehicle and component manufacturing, insurance and road transport industries, road safety professionals and specialist media, to find new approaches to reducing casualties amongst vulnerable groups.
We are unique as we are currently the only forum which gathers all these representatives to work together. Launched in October 2011, it has grown from our concern for road safety in the country which has been recognised as an outstanding achievement and innovation in road safety since Sierra Leone supported the UN Decade of Action 2020 on Road Safety.
Our primary objectives are:
The creation of a multi-sectoral partnership comprising of stakeholders in Sierra Leone and the Diaspora to develop programmes that will increase road safety awareness among all road users.
Design road accident-related public health education and prevention strategy for drivers, pedestrians and other vulnerable road users such as school children, youths, the elderly and people with mobility problems.
Develop Pre-Hospital Trauma Care Systems for road accident victims to avoid permanent disability, injuries and possibly death
In achieving our objectives, we:
Provide information, advice, resources and training;
Support and encourage partnerships between road safety professionals, private sector and government;
Champion the adoption of a ‘Safe System’ approach to casualty reduction;
Promote good practice and sharing knowledge;
Recognise achievement and innovation;
Demonstrate the commitment of sponsors to reducing road casualties.
Salone Road Safe is actively involved in the promotion of safety and the prevention of accidents in all areas of life – at work, in the home, on the roads, in schools, at leisure and on or near water.
We are committed to the Global Decade of Action for Road Safety and support the ideals of the Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety - an Alliance of NGO members of the United Nations Road Safety Collaboration. We are recognised as a 'partner' by the Ministry of Transport and Aviation, Ministry of Health and Sanitation and the Sierra Leone Police Traffic Management and Road Safety Directorate. We are committed to supporting the government's road safety agenda by developing initiatives in partnership to achieve specific casualty reduction targets.
Our partners include TOTAL, Airtel, Coca Cola, Eco Bank, Flash Vehicles, G4S, Milla Group, NP, Pee Cee & Sons, Red Cross, RMFA, G. Shankerdas & Sons, SLRTC, leading car dealerships, commercial vehicle and component companies, insurance companies and many other organisations in the transport sector. We are represented on a number of professional bodies including
Our key programmes are:
Pre-Accident Campaigns
Post-Accident & Trauma Support
Road Safety Awards
Driving for Work
Knowledge sharing and good practice.
Improved safety for young drivers
Improved safety Road Traffic Safety (RTS) Management compliance for companies leading to the attainment of an internationally recognised road traffic Safety certification (ISO 39001:2012, Road traffic safety (RTS) management systems),
Dr Paul Clark : International Cooperation Adviser
Dr Paul Clark is the former MP for Gillingham and Rainham in the UK. During his time in Parliamentary office he held a number of notable posts, which saw him conducting much of the behind the scenes negotiations for major policy changes and regeneration projects. He has been the Parliamentary Private Secretary to Ed Balls (as Secretary of State Children, Schools and Families), Lord John Prescott (as Deputy Prime Minister) and Lord Charlie Falconer (as Minister of State for Housing, Planning and Regeneration and then Minister of State for Criminal Justice). Paul was also Transport Minister with specific responsibility for aviation, shipping, ports, maritime safety, road safety, City and Regional Networks including buses, taxis, sustainable travel plans, Local Transport Plans, all non-trunk roads and also spent two years as HMG Treasury Whip.
Dr Paul Clark has consented to act as a Patron and Strategic Development Adviser for Road Safe Salone. He brings to our team a wealth of experience having served as the UK Transport Minister at the time of the Moscow Road Safety Ministers conference in 2009 that led to the UN General Assembly establishing the Decade of Action on Road Safety in 2011.
Dr Paul Clark’s opening address to the Plenary session:
Click Hear to know more about Plenary Session
Victor Ako Mengot Traffic Management and Road Safety Adviser:
Victor Ako Mengot is a Sierra Leonean resident in the United Kingdom with over 35 years of experience in the Transport and Logistics Industry. He started his transport career as an Air Traffic Control Assistant at Lungi International Airport in 1977 before proceeding to the United Kingdom for further studies in 1980. Mr. Mengot holds a Master of Science degree in Urban Planning from London Southbank University and a Post Graduate Diploma in Traffic Engineering and Planning from Middlesex University in the UK. This is in addition to professional qualifications from the Chartered Institute of Marketing; Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation; and the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport.
His international career started at the London Boroughs of Ealing and Croydon where he worked as a Traffic Engineer/Urban Planner culminating in an appointment as a Transport Specialist for the House of Commons Transport Select Committee (1993 – 1997). This was followed by an international consultancy career for the World Bank, UK Department for International Development (DfID), the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA); the Africa Union and the Economic Commission for West African States (ECOWAS). He has successfully undertaken transport and related road safety project in Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, Uganda and Kenya. He has consulted for the European Union in Northern Cyprus on a Traffic Safety Project to review road safety laws and improve the driver licensing system in order to align them with 'best practice' in Europe, and in accordance with the articles of Vienna Convention on Road Traffic. VIctor is the Technical Advisor for the ‘Campaign for Safer Roads in Sierra Leone' and is currently an Adviser on Traffic Management with the Sierra Leone Police Traffic Management and Road Safety Directorate.
Gladys Hawa Taylor Occupational Health Adviser:
Gladys Hawa Taylor is a Sierra Leonean who has lived and worked in the United Kingdom for the past 25 years and has always taken the opportunity to return to the country she calls ‘’home’’ where her passion for road safety was born when recovering from a loss of family member and with her recovery from injuries suffered in a road traffic accident. This was how the campaign for ‘safer roads in Sierra Leone/Camsafe’ was created on facebook, and the desire to launch a project in Freetown with the motive and determination to make a lasting impression in our society became a reality.
In the UK, Gladys is currently working as a Ward Manager with responsibility for the nursing staff in Baldock Manor Hospital, a private facility specializing in mental health rehabilitation. Prior to this, Gladys also worked as a post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) nurse delivering therapy sessions for Combat Stress Ex-Servicemen in a well-known mental health hospital in Surrey.
Gladys is a member of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), a professional nursing body that accredits nursing staff and issues staff with a nursing registration (PIN). She gained her Bachelor of Science Degree in Health and Social Science and specialised in mental health nursing (RMN) from Middlesex University in London. Gladys further completed a post qualification in Leadership and Management level 5 National Vocational Qualification in Social care at Hertford Regional College in Hertfordshire.
In 10 years of nursing experience; 4 years working as a practice nurse, 4 years working as a community (social care) nurse and more recently 2 years in the role of a nursing manager in a private mental hospital. Currently CEO and founder of RSSL.