Improving Road Safety
in the OIC Member States
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Pedestrians and livestock share the same roads as motorised vehicles resulting in constant
conflicts and hazards, especially at night. Large logging trucks, as well as other vehicles, use the
roads after dark and often these vehicles travel without lights and are frequently broken on the
side of the road or even on the road. Together with a lack of road signing and lighting, these
conditions make roads in Cameroon dangerous at night.
Like most other central African countries, motorised traffic not only increases during festive and
seasonal periods but also over long weekends where city workers return to their homes in the
more rural areas. According to the Bafia Mobile Gendarmerie Road Safety Unit, road traffic
volumes increase especially during August and December (back to school and year end
festivities), as do the number of road crashes.
The Department of Public Works has embarked on an extensive programme to rehabilitate the
primary transport corridors linking Cameroon to other countries in the CEMAC region and also
on key strategic internal routes. As part of the CEMAC corridor road safety improvement project
strategic assessments and evaluations (including traffic and safety) have been carried out and
the rehabilitation programme is expected to commence in 2017 and be ready in time for the
Women Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) football tournament to be hosted by Cameroon in 2016.
On some corridors (e.g. Yaoundé-Douala national 4 highway) preparatory work has already
started. The works are to be funded by Cameroon and her CEMAC partners.
In line with the Mens’ Africa Cup of Nations (CAN 2019) football tournament to be hosted by
Cameroon in 2019, an express routes will be built from Yaounde to Douala. The second step of
this espress routes Edéa -Douala will be undertaken as Build-Operate-Transfer (public-private
partnerships) concession agreements built around very specific and SMART (Specific;
Measurable; Assignable; Realistic and Time-related) service level agreements aimed at ensuring
optimally safe operation of these vital transport corridors.
A number of express routes, routes linking vital major urban centres, are also under
development including high quality transport links to the Port of Kribi and high quality links
between Edea and Bafoussam and between Douala and Limbe.
According to the Ministry of Public Works there is also a new network development programme
being developed and in which specific attention is to be given to the expansion of weighbridges
to control the ongoing and severe problems being caused by overloading of especially cross-
border traffic. It is anticipated that overload control will form part of the concession agreements
although issues surrounding the privatisation of this function has yet to be resolved.
10.8 Post-crash Response
The time between injury and initial stabilisation is an important factor in the patient’s survival
(the so called golden hour). Prompt emergency assistance and efficient trauma care
management are clearly important in minimising the injury consequences resulting from
crashes. Cameroon does have multiple emergency telephone numbers but lacks emergency