The National Safety Partnership of Liberia, (NASAPAL) has joined a worldwide camping of Civil Society Organizations to advocate for safer motor roads across cities and counties in Liberia.
According to the petitioner, the critical exercise dubbed #CommitToAct brought civil society actors on the street in the same week across the world to show the reality of people’s journeys.
From country to country, volunteers of civil society groups are taking snapshots of the movement of road users including vehicles and pedestrians, identifying intersections, gathering data not limited to photos, number of pedestrians, 30 km/h zones, pedestrians facilities and track climbing.
The groups will present the data to the global Alliance of NGOs for road safety to be uploaded on its website.
“NPSAPAL, the first Liberian road safety organization to join the Global Alliance of NGOs for road safety is undertaking strategic activities and collecting data that will contribute to the #CommitToAct campaign,” the petition said.
NPSAPAL, a nonprofit organization registered in October 2013, in Liberia and collaborated with ordinary people and the government to confront challenges of public safety.
“From 2007-2010, NPSAPAL’s founders conducted a public safety survey with emphasis on road safety in Margibi, Grand Bassa, Sinoe, Lofa, Nimba, Grand Gedeh, Gbarpolu, Bomi, Grand Cape Mount, Rivercess, and Montserrado,” the petition narrated.
“The survey found out that more than 90 percent of drivers were self-taught, more than 95 percent of drivers and pedestrians knew little about their responsibilities, more than 90 percent of drivers unaware of Liberia’s road policy due to inadequate information, more than 85 percent of road users knew little about the relevance of vehicle insurance,” the petition stated.
The petition concluded, that the government had kept an improper record of road incidents and data of vehicles, driver’s schools used self-designed and disjointed curricula, many road users disrespected the police because the officers worked unprofessionally, some road peddlers abused public facilities and disrespected public policy enforcers, and public officials disrespected ordinary people in performing their duties leading to reactions harmful to public safety.
