Road safety advisory body re-introduced |05 February 2016

Members of the re-introduced Road Safety Advisory Committee met yesterday for their first meeting at Maison Quéau de Quinssy.

In his opening remarks the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Transport Joel Morgan said the committee is very important in ensuring that Seychelles enjoys better road safety in all aspects -- from the motorists to pedestrians to the infrastructure and to the quality and standards that we put in place.

“The department of transport took the step that we would form this advisory committee and they will help us to come up with different elements that will strengthen the safety of road users in our country and that includes the road infrastructure but it also includes the quality and the standards that our motorists apply when they are driving on our roads,” he said.

He also said that the current standard of driving in Seychelles needs improvement in order to protect not only our citizens but our visitors as well.

This committee has 16 members made up of representatives from partners and stakeholders involved in the safety of our roads such as the department of transport, education, health, the Police, Seychelles Public Transport Corporation (SPTC), Seychelles Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI), Taxi Association, Car Hire Association, Seychelles Media Commission (SMC), Drug and Alcohol Council (Dac) and insurance companies, among others.

According to the principal secretary for transport Patrick Andre, who is also the chair of the Road Safety Advisory Committee, the roles of the committee which provides a forum for sharing ideas and programmes are to promote all aspects of road safety, advise the government on road safety policies, encourage work base policies and initiatives for employees, and to commission and contribute towards research on accident causes and consequences.

He said the decision to re-introduce a new committee was taken last year in October after the previous committee had been dormant.

“The committee which existed before was very effective in its work during the period it was in existence but certain things allowed the committee to stop functioning and remain dormant. Although the work was being continued in the aspect of road safety by the department of transport, SLTA, the police with other partners we still felt there was a lack of direction, support. With this committee in place we expect to get the points of view of all sectors being represented which will help us do a better job and build up on what had been started already to achieve our goals,” he said.

A Road Safety Advisory Committee report will be prepared on an annual basis and its progress reported to the department of transport.