FIRST ARSO GENERAL ASSEMBLY 27-29 June 2019

Implementation Status of the African Road Safety Action Plan and the African Road Safety Charter – The importance of road safety commitments

Presented by Placide BADJI, PhD from African Union Commission during the First ARSO General Assembly meeting in South Africa Durban, June 2019

AU Commitments on road safety

In their Declaration at the African Union Summit of July 2005 on the MDGs, the Heads of State and Government decided to include transport targets and indicators adopted in April 2005 by African Ministers responsible for transport and infrastructure, to accelerate the achievement of the MDGs, including reducing by half, the rate of fatal road accidents by 2015.

The 18th AU Summit (Addis, January 2012), endorsed the conclusions of the Conference of African Ministers of Transport (Luanda, November 2011) which, adopted the African Plan of Action for the 2011-2020 Road Safety Decade in accordance with the Resolution proclaiming the Decade of Action for Road Safety and the third Sunday of November, which is the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims as Africa’s Road Safety Day.

Instruments and main Commitments

• African Road Safety Action Plan

• Global Decade of Action
• Assessment: UNECA (15-23 MS; 2015); UNECA (Uganda, Cameroon; Future: Ethiopia and one French speaking country); AUC (23 MS; 2018 – Under review)
• Future: post Decade road map

• Intergovernmental Agreement on TAH

• Content of the Annexes 3a and 3b:
• ROAD SAFETY: TAH GUIDELINES FOR SIGNS, SIGNALS, MARKINGS, EQUIPMENTS, FACILITIES, INSTALLATIONS

–     ROAD SAFETY GUIDELINES FOR TAH ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE SAFETY MANAGEMENT

• Adopted in 2014: Reviewed and under Process of ratification ……WG
• African Road Safety Charter (adopted in 2016): Objective and ratification
• Objective: The main objectives of the Charter are:

i) To serve as a policy framework for Road Safety improvement in Africa.

ii) To serve as an advocacy tool and instrument for Road Safety improvement on the Continent aimed at facilitating the creation of an enabling environment to drastically reduce the road traffic crashes.

• Ratification: Subject to Adoption and Ratification (15 ratifications = entry to force)

African Road Safety Charter:

-Will help the Member States to operate in road safety

-Will facilitate the work of the Experts

-Will help to obtain a global movement for the improvement of road   safety across the continent

-Will facilitate mutual assistance among Member States

African Road Safety Charter: Efforts for advocacy

• In 2018 the AUC has called the MS to sign and ratify the Charter – ARSO as an opportunity: the AU STC requested the AUC to help to establish the ARSO under its Department of Infrastructure and Energy and in line with the Charter
• Basically, the ARSO members should have sign and ratify the Charter. But now they should take the strong commitment to do so.
• Target: 15 State parties by July 2020 to be included in our workplan.
• The participants should committed to be the Ambassadors of the African Road Safety Charter – MS; Programmes; Banques; Specialised Institutions…