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Africa: YWAM Missionary Deaths Highlight Inadequate Road Safety Across The Continent

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – The tragic deaths of 11 YWAM missionary leaders in a road traffic accident in Tanzania last month has highlighted the neglect of road safety measures across the African continent, Christian Daily reports. The 11 missionaries had been participating in the “Executive Masters in Leadership” course, based at YWAM Arusha, Tanzania when a truck suffered a brake failure and crashed into the bus they were traveling in on Feb. 24, killing them and severely injuring others.

Catastrophic negligence of road safety has contributed to 27 people per 100,000 inhabitants dying in road accidents in Sub Saharan Africa, well above the global average of 18, and three times the number in Europe, the UN Economic Commission for Europe has reported.

In a recent report titled “Mortality in Africa: The Share of Road Traffic Fatalities,” the Africa Development Group (AFdB) said road accidents constitute 25% of all injury-related deaths in Africa, with North African countries being the worst affected.

“Deaths due to road traffic accidents are highest among the most economically active population (15-59 years),” the AFdB report reads. “Nearly one in ten deaths of men (15-59 years) in North African countries can be attributed to road traffic accidents; 10% in Libya and Tunisia, 8% in Egypt and 7% in Sudan and Morocco. Nearly twice as many males aged 15-59 die from injury-related causes (road traffic accidents, violence and others) than those that die from tuberculosis (20% vs. 10%), respiratory infections (20% vs. 6%), cancers (20% vs. 5%) while deaths due to HIV/ AIDS were only slightly higher than those for injury related deaths (22% vs. 20%),” the report says.

Noting that “enforcement of road safety measures is generally weak across the continent,” the AFdB advises there are a number of strategies that can be undertaken by governments to address the crisis. These include “improved road infrastructure; speed limits; compulsory seatbelts and child restraints; drink-driving laws; bans on the use of cellphones while driving; legal requirement for motorcyclists to wear helmets,” the AFdB said.