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Reducing the injury and death count on the roads n Policemen listen attentively to the instructions of Red Cross monitors
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The number of victims on the roads in the Euro-Mediterranean region has increased markedly due to a lack of preventive measures, a lack of education and a lack of coordination between the different road safety stakeholders. To help the local authorities improve this situation, the EU is funding a regional project that aims to reduce the number of accidents and save lives as a result. A journalist from the European Neighbourhood Centre in Lebanon took part in a training programme for around forty law enforcement motorcyclists who patrol a section of the motorway around northern Beirut. He sent us this report. Text by: Antoine Ajoury Photos by: AFP ©EU/Neighbourhood Info Centre
BEIRUT – The figures speak for themselves. There were 3,694 accidents in 2013, with 5,102 injuries and 580 deaths. That is a high figure for a small country like Lebanon. “These figures, which come from the traffic management centre, are around 30% lower than the reality, which means the real accident toll is much higher,” says Sandra Arbid, a road safety specialist at the Global Road Safety Partnership. A lack of education and prevention combined with a lack of coordination between the different players on the ground has led to a high number of accidents in the country.
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Specific interventions The European Union is looking to support local authorities in their efforts to deal with this situation by funding a regional project called ‘Euromed Road Safety’. The project has been implemented by the Global Road Safety Partnership, a programme supported by the International Federation of Red Cross Societies and the Red Crescent. The project has a regional dimension but also takes specific actions. At regional level, the project EU Neighbourhood Info Centre is developing a road safety strategy that will guide the actions of the Feature no. 140 players concerned in the medium term. At the national level, the project This is a series of features on projects is putting in place and strengthening multi-sector structures or funded by the EU, prepared by partnerships that are capable of coordinating and guiding the journalists and photographers on the deployment of road safety interventions in pilot communities. It is ground or the EU Neighbourhood drawing up inventories to identify needs and help for pilot communities Info Centre. to address risk factors. “Lebanon is one of the countries taking part in © 2014 EU/Neighbourhood Info Centre the southern Mediterranean region, from Morocco to Palestine,” explains
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“In each of these countries we have chosen a risk factor which we based the project on. So we’re focussing on practical action at the local level.”
n The workshop mainly aims to improve the capacities and performance of the forces of law and order
Samar Abou Raad, a team leader at the Global Road Safety Partnership. “In each of these countries we have chosen a risk factor which we based the project on. So we’re focussing on practical action at the local level.”
n The training envisages practical
exercises involving different scenarios that can arise during missions on the ground
Training the motorcyclists This is the backdrop against which a two-day training workshop was organised by the Red Cross together with the Global Road Safety Partnership and Roads for Life. The activity is targeting around forty motorcyclists from the internal security forces who patrol a section of the motorway around northern Beirut, between Antélias and Byblos, which is regarded as one of the most deadly and dangerous for two main reasons: speed and alcohol. The policemen are divided into several groups and listen attentively to the instructions of Red Cross monitors before doing practical exercises that involve different scenarios that can come up during their missions on the ground. This is a kind of first aid training. It is about how to react if there is a serious injury, fire or conflict and how to cordon off the area where an accident has taken place, how to manage the traffic etc. The reason why this is done is that the police are often the first actors to arrive at the scene of an accident, before the first aid people. This workshop, which mainly aims to improve the capacities and performance of the law enforcement agencies, is supported by the non-governmental organisation ‘Roads for Life’, which is very active in delivering post-trauma care. According to its Secretary General, Roni Alpha, “the main aim of this training is to help those that we call unnecessary deaths, i.e. the injured that can be saved”. Abbas Ghandour, one of the Red Cross instructors, believes that the interest of the training sessions lies in learning to protect human lives. Participants come away at the end of the day with 90% more information than when they began that morning: “I’m really very satisfied with the results,” says Ghandour. It was the same story with the participants. “I was a bit reticent before I came along this morning. But I learnt lots of things today and I’m very happy to have been able to take part in this workshop,” said one of the motorcyclists. “We’re working to help our fellow citizens. What could be better than saving lives when we can?” added a colleague. For a third policeman who is already familiar with rescue techniques, the attraction of the training lies in it improving “communication with other partners to improve coordination”. n First aid training: how to react in the event of a serious injury
“We’re working to help our fellow citizens. What could be better than saving lives when we can?”
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A culture of cooperation with all the players This training is one of the components of this project whose “particularity is that it is multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary”, says Ms Abou Raad. She thinks that this is “an essential condition for the success of such a project because road safety is the responsibility of everyone and at every level: citizens, law enforcement agencies, ministries of transport, public works ministries, the medical profession, NGOs, etc. And this project seeks to benefit all these players.” As another part of the project, “we have reviewed the ways that statistical notes are taken by the law enforcement agencies, who have also had appropriate training”, explains Ms Abou Raad. She is of course aware that statistics relating to accidents on road to Lebanon are currently not very reliable. “So we have developed a little programme in which the information pulled together can be analysed in a “Road safety is the ren A two-day training workshop is being organised by the Red Cross together with the Global Road rational and scientific way,” sponsibility of everySafety Partnership and Roads for Life she adds. She hopes that one one and at every level: day an agency responsible for road safety will be put in place to take care of this system that has been citizens, law enforcecreated as part of the project and “which needs to be pursued even after it ends”. Separately, the local private sector has been very active in supporting an advertising campaign entitled ment agencies, min‘Together, so that the road doesn’t separate us’, which will be launched in the near future. istries of transport, To underline the importance of this training in the eyes of the local authorities, General Mohammad elpublic works minAyoubi, who is head of the road traffic section, is personally coming to hand participants their certificate. “The interest of this European project is to create a culture of exchange and cooperation with all the istries, the medical actors on the ground to be as effective as possible,” concludes the general. profession, NGOs, etc.”
Railway, road and urban transport – Road safety programme http://www.euromedtransport.eu/En/working-group-brinfrastructure-and-regulatory-issues_15_9_59
Contributes to the reduction of road crash death and injury in the Mediterranean partner countries The main aim of this project is to put in place a regional approach in order to develop long-term road safety activities in the region in these three sectors. For this purpose, it aims to help partner countries improve their road safety planning and management, coordinate multisectoral and multi-disciplinary cooperation in road safety and sustainable mobility and to promote a regional and transnational network that is dedicated to road safety by sharing the same vision of security on the roads and railways.
Participating countries: Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, the occupied Palestinian Territories, Syria, Tunisia Timeframe: 2011-2014 Budget: one million euros
To find out more EU Neighbourhood Info Centre fiche de projet http://www.enpi-info.eu/mainmed.php?id=517&id_type=10&lang_id=450 EU Neighbourhood Info Centre – Lebanon http://www.enpi-info.eu/countrymed.php?country=5 EU Neighbourhood Info Centre subject page – Transport http://www.enpi-info.eu/thememed.php?subject=8
EU Neighbourhood Info Centre An ENPI project The EU Neighbourhood Info Centre is an EU-funded Regional Information and Communication project highlighting the partnership between the EU and Neighbouring countries. The project is managed by Action Global Communications.
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