Improving Road Safety
in the OIC Member States
105
road safety problems. Similar to many African countries, Cameroon is signatory to the Moscow
declaration of the UN Decade of Action although it has not as yet managed to formally establish
a lead agency responsible for road safety management. Furthermore, the country has no current
road safety strategy in place as a follow up to the last strategy covering the period 2009-2014
(Ministry of Transport, 2008). According to personal communications with politicians and
senior government officials, the development of a new road safety strategy is in the process of
being commissioned. The new strategy will be aligned this with ambitions of the UN Decade of
Action and express the intent of the government and civil society to redress the most pressing
road safety issues. A primary goal is the establishment of an agency responsible for road safety
management.
At the present time the responsibility for "Road Safety Management" (RSM) in Cameroon falls
under the Ministry of Transport who can be viewed as the "Lead Organization" (main entity
coordinating road safety activities). The RSM activities are funded through the national budget
and the Road Fund. Until 2013 the Road Fund dedicated 1.5% of its budget to road safety,
specifically in support of coordination activities, campaigns, education and to some extent
equipment for enforcement. Since 2014 the allocation from the Road Fund has been increased
to 4% indicating a growing commitment from government to redress ongoing and growing road
safety problems, Although there appears to growing support for addressing the road safety
problems, the country cannot be considered to be effectively managing the situation. Recent
discussions with various senior government officials and persons representing civil
organisations revealed that there is a general lack of co-ordination regarding road safety with
each involved organisation and stakeholder following its own initiatives. At a national level,
Road Safety Management has been deemed ineffective (Luca Persia et al., 2015). It does not
comply with best practices internationally especially as far as the coordination function is
concerned. There appears to be a general lack of co-ordination within government structures
but also between responsible government departments and the private sector, particularly the
Coalition of Cameroonian road safety NGO’s (amalgamated in COALIROUTE) and the insurance
sector (amalgamated in Pool TPV). Although a number of national committees have been
established to fulfil the function of co-ordination, these have been largely ineffectual.
Regarding the management of traffic crash data, the current data collection system involving the
Ministry of Transport, the National Gendarmerie, the National Police and the Ministry of Public
Health, is decentralised with each Administration having its own system of data collection, with
its limitations and errors. This is not effective and coordination between the administrations is
poor. This results in an inability to use data coherently and creates difficulties in identifying
aspects that are essential for effective road safety management (identifying problems and
defining the appropriate response measures).
The funding of Road Safety Management is predominantly via the "Road Fund" (Etablissement
Public Administration) and falls under the protection of the Minister of Finance and Minister of
Transport (responsible for roads but not land transport). The funds are specifically designated
for: