The Senegalese Minister of Transport has reiterated his desire to toughen sanctions against dangerous behavior on the road, reacting to new fatal accidents that occurred on July 29, 2024. Malick Ndiaye assured that the government ” accelerated ” as much as possible ” the adoption of the new highway code with the points-based license » and promises to « reinventing transportation “.
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With our correspondent in Dakar, Gwendal Lavina
At Senegalat least 15 people were killed in less than 24 hours on July 29, 2024, in two road accidents that shook the country. The first involved a truck that killed three young children in Kédougou, in the southeast of the country, and the second a collision between a bus and a truck that left 12 dead and 8 seriously injured about forty kilometers north of Thiès. Two accidents that revive the debate on road safety in the country.
During a trip to the scene of the deadliest collision, the Minister of Transport took on undisciplined drivers who are often the cause of these tragedies. And his direction is clear. We are going to be much tougher in the sanctionssaid Malick Ndiaye. And we are speeding up as much as possible the adoption of the new highway code with the points-based license. And I swear to you, we are going to reinvent transport, the granting of licenses, the granting of transport tickets, the renewal of the fleet and the sanctions. “.
” Without sanctions, we will never have sustainable road safety »
A speech that reassured the players in the sector, including Mactar Faye of the Association of Insurers of Senegal, in charge of road safety issues: ” Today, the minister is ready to go to war against these accidents and we are truly here, we are ready to support him in this fight which is a fight for life. »
Mactar Faye also calls for an effective ban on bus traffic at night, as was announced a year and a half ago. But, for him, it is above all with the implementation of the points-based license, voted in 2022, and the sanctions that go with it, that things will change. This allows the individual to drive in compliance with the rules and to know how to share the road with other users.he insists. And I think that in the absence of sanctions, we can say what we want, but we will never have sustainable road safety. “.
According to the UN, while sub-Saharan Africa accounts for just 2% of the world’s vehicle fleet, road accident deaths on the continent account for a quarter of the total number of victims on the planet.
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