Road Safety Education and Awareness Campaign
RSSL will replicate the Road Show that was organised as part of the UN Global Road Safety Week to commemorate the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims in the week beginning 6th November 2017 to be completed by the 2nd Sunday in November. The Road Show will start from Masiaka and will focus on accident ‘Black Spots’ all the way to Central Freetown. Another Road Show will be organized in the rest of the Country from Masiaka to Mile 91 in May 2018 to mark the anniversary of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety.
Training of First Responders at Accident Black Spots
In Road Safety Management, an accident ‘blackspot’ or ‘black spot’ is a place where road traffic accidents have historically been concentrated. It may have occurred for a variety of reasons, such as a sharp drop or corner in a straight road, so oncoming traffic is concealed, a hidden junction on a fast road, poor or concealed warning signs at a cross-road. RSSL is aware that Total SL Ltd has existing plans to evaluate accident ‘black spots’ with a view of proposing remedial measures that could be implemented by the Sierra Leone Roads Authority. Such measures are likely to include improve signage, provision of safe pedestrian facilities etc. RSSL will work with partners to train ‘First Responders’ (Community Volunteers) who are more than likely to be called upon during emergencies. This program will be conducted jointly with the Sierra Leone Red Cross and other Emergency Services providers e.g Fire Services and the Police.
Road Safety Program for Schools
RSSL is aware that Total Sierra Leone Ltd already has a robust school road safety program. We will assist in evaluating this program and suggest ways of enhancing a general road safety education and awareness program for schools and young people by establishing Road Safety Clubs in Secondary Schools and institutions of higher learning. More importantly we will work with the Ministry of Education Science and Technology to review the syllabi so that elements of road safety education will be incorporated with teaching materials for subjects such as environmental education, sciences and mathematics. We will also organize road safety projects and annual debates to improve road safety awareness and education.
Safe Route to Schools
RSSL will seek the support of members in the Diaspora to donate bicycles for students in rural areas. There are lots of unused bicycles in the sheds of Diaspora members that are no longer in use because their children have outgrown them. We will collect these Bicycles and donate them to children in rural areas who will in turn be taught safe riding skills and journey planning to avoid accidents
Road Side Health Clinics
A medium to long term aim of RSSL is to establish Road Side Health clinics to provide pre-hospital care for accident victims. The clinics will also provide primary health care services for the surrounding community as well as Occupational Health Safety Services for commercial drivers. It has been known for a long time that people whose jobs require them to travel a lot, such as truckers, traders, police and army personnel etc. are extremely vulnerable to HIV and STIs. In the case of truck drivers, overnight stays away from home, less social control, long waiting periods in ports and border stations, the availability of commercial sex, and other factors work together in creating this vulnerability. In various countries of the world, mainly in South Asia, South Africa and Western Africa, projects have been set up to increase HIV/AIDS awareness among truckers and their occasional sexual partners, and teach them about the importance of consistent condom use. Such services are now been provided in established Road Side Clinics. The proposed clinics will be built using disused containers possibly donated by corporate partners.
Road Safety Committees (RSC)
Set up road safety committees in each of the 13 Districts of Sierra Leone. We would recruit, train and support the committees to assist in the engagement and empowering of communities by training committed and enthusiastic members of the community in the principles of road safety. This will allow a two way process where local road safety concerns are fed back to the RSSL and vice versa. The committee would be responsible for the management of a small pot of money allocated to the relevant committee. This will allow local specific road safety concerns to be addressed by the community with guidance from the road safety professionals.
By providing road safety training for members of the community, it will enable the profile of road safety to be heightened and allow communities to understand and tackle their local road safety concerns at a grass roots level with guidance from the SLRSA Road Safety professionals and ultimately reduce the number of Killed or Seriously Injured (KSI) casualties.