Wednesday, the First Lady, Ms. Sophia Martelly, participated in Palm Events in Pétion-Ville, to a important working session involving several Ministers of the Government, private sector figures, trade unionists and representatives of the international community, whose objective was to develop a national strategy for road safety, with the Government of Haiti, the National Police, the Interamerican Development Bank (IDB) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) .

The various workshops have allowed to identify various recommendations including: education, traffic regulations, road safety and the management. Participants stressed the need to establish a National Commission with the following objectives :

• Implement an institutional action plan for road safety in Haiti, with the main sectors concerned;

• Provide the Government with reliable data on the victims of road accidents;

• Improving knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of drivers through awareness campaigns, from the school year;

• Strengthen institutional capacity in term of planning, of implementation and of effective management of interventions in the field of road safety;

• Respond appropriately to victims of accidents.

Ms. Sophia Martelly, who was already fully involvedin early 2012 in an awareness campaign to convince drivers to be cautious, reiterated in her speech for the occasion, her determination to become more involved in the efforts to find viable solutions to face this problem, "I am committed to give my support to any action going in the direction of protecting the lives of our citizens on the road. I am involved and will continue to be with dedication. Many lives, including ours and your loved ones can be saved thanks to your input and involvement in this workshop."

Gilles Damais, the Head of Operations within the IDB, noted that several meetings between the Office of the First Lady of Haiti and partners have already allowed to lay the groundwork for an institutional partnership in road safety, as well as to identify the different national structures concerned by the theme.

The IDB has praised the dynamism and perspicacity of the First Lady in particular and of the Administration Martelly-Lamothe in general, relatively to the issue of road safety in the country.

According to the Inspector Louis-Jeune Michel-Ange, Chief of Bureau of accidents within the PNH, the vehicle fleet Haitian has approximately 50.000 registered vehicles. From 2000 to 2010, the Haitian roads made 972 victims, 6.489 wounded. 36.936 vehicles were damaged due to accidents whose registered number is estimated at 45.783 in Haiti for 10 years.

Sophia Martelly, has stressed the need for a change in behavior of all, in order to have a reduction of accidents and urged road users to fulfill their responsibilities.

HL/ HaitiLibre