Road accidents down 1% in 2009 Q1, minister

Road accidents decreased by 1.06% in the first quarter of 2009 compared to the same period in 2008, Transport minister, Karim Ghellab said on Friday.

    According to provisional statistics announced by Ghellab, the number of deaths declined by 10.6% in the first quarter of 2009, while the number of the severely injured went down 9.7% while light injuries decreased by 2.42%. 

    This drop is due to a good "coordination between the different players at the level of implementation and the follow-up of monitoring, communication and education projects," said Ghellab, who was chairing the 51st general assembly of the national commission for the prevention of road accidents (CNPAC).

    The Moroccan official recalled the launch of several projects linked to road traffic, referring, in this respect, to the modernization of the heavy commercial lorries, which required some 510 million dirhams (63.6 million dollars), the upgrading of the vehicles' technical monitoring and the elaboration of a new guide standardizing road signs in urban areas.

    He has also pointed to the social offices set up at the level of regions and provinces to improve the social conditions of road transport professionals.

    For his part, CNPAC's Permanent Secretary, Azzeddine Chraïbi presented the budget and the commission’s action program for the year 2009, which is based on communication with the different road users.

    300,000 children will benefit from road education within the framework of a communication plan, Chraïbi said, adding that the CNPAC documentation center will be opened soon and all data will be available on the Internet.

    The CNPAC action program project and the 2009 budget were unanimously approved.

MAP