CONCLUSION: CHALLENGES AHEAD AND
ACTIONS AGREED
The following specific challenges were identified:
• There are still huge gaps in road connectivity in Africa and there is a need to increase the share of paved
roads as well as to ensure that road infrastructure includes the right road signs and markings.
• Participating countries have complex legal and regulatory frameworks for road safety, however,
international harmonisation at regional and global levels still has to be improved.
• The fast growth of motorisation in African countries raises numerous concerns, such as improving public
transport in urban and inter-city context, and improving traffic management institutions and practices.
• The growing use of motorbikes in African countries raises new challenges.
• African countries generally have old vehicle fleets that have to be maintained and renewed.
• Enforcement capacity has to be improved in general, particularly with regard to drink driving, where
lack of breath testing/breathalyzer equipment is a serious obstacle.
• Lack of funding for road safety activities is a serious challenge for most African countries.
• Limited analytical capacity needs to be addressed, particularly in support of improved data collection.
• So far, there appears to be limited attention to the special challenges of transport of dangerous goods
by road.
Workshop delegates expressed appreciation for the opportunity to come together in Addis Ababa,
and to take stock in advance of the Second Global High-Level Conference on Road Safety scheduled
for November 2015 in Brasilia, Brazil. Speakers and participants voiced determination to effectively
implement the African Road Safety Action Plan, as well as United Nations road safety instruments
and other international good practice, in African countries.
There was candid discussion about the hard work ahead, and the need for increased action at the
national, regional and global levels in order to stablise, and then reduce, the forecast level of road traffic
fatalities worldwide.
There was also consensus among workshop delegates that the true success of such events can only
be determined by subsequent meaningful progress in making roads safer and saving lives – in this
instance, across Africa. There are distinct challenges ahead in this work, and critical action that must
be taken.
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