The Minister of Land Transport and Light Rail, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade, Mr Alan Ganoo, attended, yesterday at Labourdonnais Waterfront Hotel in Port Louis, the Stakeholders’ meeting on the Review of the National Road Safety Strategy 2016-2025.
The Director of the Traffic Management and Road Safety Unit (TMRSU), Mr D. Nathoo, and other personalities were also present on this occasion.
In his address, Minister Ganoo highlighted that the purpose of this meeting is to seek the collaboration of key road safety stakeholders to carry out an objective review of the National Road Safety Strategy 2016-2025 for Mauritius. The aim, he pointed out, is to assess factual evidence with a view to identifying necessary changes to priorities and new initiatives for the development of the next two-year Road Safety Action Plan.
According to Minister Ganoo, this Review will comprise consultation with a wider range of stakeholders, assessment of the level of implementation of the current National Road Safety Strategy, data analysis and the identification of priority areas. As such, the Stakeholders’ Meeting will, amongst others: make a call for the collaborative support of all key stakeholders; discuss and communicate on the expectations from the key stakeholders and request for appropriate Road Safety Actions in their respective sector; and pave the way forward for the Review of progress on the implementation of actions in the Strategy so as to establish the current status of Road Safety.
Furthermore, the Minister underscored that the meeting is an opportunity to align Government’s strategy with the new United Nations (UN) Global Plan – Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030. This, he emphasised, will ultimately entail the implementation of evidence-based measures according to a well-defined framework and increase national prevention efforts through successful coordination of actions and procedures.
He moreover stated that 80% of the recommended action areas in the 10-year Strategy are being implemented and have produced the required impact, as evidenced by the reduction in the number of injury crashes. He recalled that around 127 road traffic fatalities are on average reported annually in Mauritius, and that, since the beginning of this year to date, 25 accidents have been registered and 25 persons have lost their lives.
Presentations and discussions during the Stakeholders’ meeting on the Review of the National Road Safety Strategy 2016-2025 focused on the themes: Road Safety Situation and Gap Analysis; Safe System Approach; and UN Global Plan – Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030.
