Improving Road Safety
in the OIC Member States
101
Figure 14: Registered injuries and fatalities in Cameroon 2008-2014
Source: Sidiki Sidibe
However, given recent discussions with the authorities in Cameroon, and a recent analysis of
the official data, it is apparent that there is significant evidence of under reporting of crashes,
under recording of crashes, a lack of uniformity and interpretation of the definitions of the
various injury categories and generally poor quality of registered crash data. The World Health
Organisation’s report on Global Road safety (World Health Organisation, 2015) estimates that
there were 6,136 road deaths in Cameroon in 2013, this compared to the 1,128 reported by the
police and as shown i
Compared to WHO data this number is underestimated by a factor of 5.3 resulting in an actual
mortality rate of 27.6 per 100,000 population, putting Cameroon among the worst performing
countries internationally when it comes to road safety. Furthermore, the country scores
relatively poorly with respect to the aspects outlined by the five road safety pillars of the United
Nations Decade for Action for Road Safety 2011-2020 (United Nations, 2011). The WHO
assessment suggests that Cameroon faces significant challenges if it is to meet the fatality targets
reductions it has set itself. One aspect that rates particularly poorly is enforcement of various
road user behaviours and this, together with an estimated low rate of crash registration, could
be indicative of the relatively low level of priority given to road safety.
In Cameroon information on road crashes can be obtained from the National Gendarmerie, the
National Police, the Ministry of Public Health and the Ministry of Transport. The Gendarmerie
and the National Police are responsible for crash data recording and capturing. The hospitals
record their own data on crash patients treated in trauma and emergency centres in hospitals.
There is no link between the police and hospital registration systems.
It can be stated that the country currently does not have reliable databases on traffic crashes.
Furthermore, the existing systems are not administered centrally nor are they accessible via a
road crash information system. As mentioned above, each organisation involved in road safety
management collects and administers crash data via their own system. This produces a lack of
consistency in the data processing and undermines the goal of identifying real needs and
defining solutions. It should however be mentioned that the Ministry of Public Works, through
the World Bank and in close consultation with the Ministry of Transport, Gendarmerie, National