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Adams Steven, Senior Technical Adviser at the Ministry of Transport and Aviation, has disclosed that the Government of Sierra Leone is considering a policy to ban the importation of vehicles that are 20 years old or more into the country.
According to Dr. Steven, the government is currently assessing the situation as part of efforts to improve road safety and reduce the number of unroadworthy vehicles operating nationwide.
“We are assessing the situation as we intend to ban 20-year-old vehicles into Sierra Leone,” he stated.
Speaking on the recent fatal accident at Rokel, where a container truck reportedly claimed several lives, Dr. Steven said the tragedy was the result of a systemic failure in enforcement and regulation.
He explained that preliminary findings indicate the vehicle involved had failed mandatory vehicle inspection tests, but its owner allegedly included it in an operational fleet and continued using it despite the failed assessment.
Dr. Steven noted that the incident exposed regulatory lapses, adding that both the Sierra Leone Road Safety Authority and the Sierra Leone Police failed to intercept the truck, even though it was reportedly in poor mechanical condition.
He stressed that while the SLRSA has been carrying out enforcement activities, stronger compliance measures and coordinated monitoring are needed to prevent similar tragedies in the future.
This won’t solve the problem, firstly it has to be a nationwide effort amongst different ministries and organisations both civil, govt and law enforcements. Secondly get a standard vehicle road worthy test that every vehicle go through and enforce it robustly. Thirdly public service announcements and road safety campaigns nationwide, billboards, posters, banners, TV and radio ads. Reintroduce road safety in the education system. If all this is done in honesty we can few lives along the way thank you.