An all too common tragedy

We are in mourning. This week, we are all parents of those young citizens – cut down before they started running by a killer that is out of control - traffic accidents. What words can assuage the grief of these 22 parents and their countless relatives – wrenched away so suddenly from their loved little ones?
It is incumbent upon not only on behalf of the staff behind this humble publication, but more importantly, on behalf of our readership that Capital wishes the bereaved parents of the deceased all strength in this, their time of great ordeal.
Ethiopian parents live only for their children. Moms and Dads wear mended clothing, drive 25 year old cars and generally make do without so that children can have a chance at a life better than the one their parents’ slogged through.
The Addis-Adama highway is certainly the most fatal of Ethiopia’s ‘network of death’- as this is the appropriate term for the chaotic transportation “system”.
To the nation at large, we must say, how many more children have to perish needlessly on our bloody roads?
To the government –we are forced to exclaim, if more carnage is the consequence of an expanding road network sans regulatory control, then dear government, stop building roads until the public learns how to drive, traffic police begin to perform their duty and pedestrians stop jay walking.
The Addis Ababa- Adama road is by inference, the deadliest highway in the world because we have the worst road safety records on earth. It is ironic that this stretch of roughly 100 kilometers is the economic life line of Ethiopia and yet is under such loose and even nearly non-existent traffic regulation.
The state of Ethiopia’s dismal road safety record is a topic that has been exhaustively discussed and debated on all media but there seems to be a general disconnect with reality. Oh yes, we have heard of all the speed guns, the spot vehicle inspections, the weigh bridges, zebra crossings, notices, warnings, student traffic wardens, fines and what have you in relation to road safety, but few of us translate this into practical action. Perhaps it is time to take a lesson from how another big killer is being dealt mortal blows after nearly a quarter century of rampant killing on a massive scale. We refer to the great news concerning HIV/AIDS in Africa and particularly in East Africa. It seems that the campaigns to root out HIV/AIDS from the continent are meeting with some success at long last.
The almost achingly monotonous anti-AIDS slogans, dramas, songs, symposia, workshops, banners, condom promotion, behavioral trainings, ARV drugs and the sheer terror of the virus is paying off with a reduction in infection rates.
At the risk of re-igniting the epidemic with its former intensity due to reckless over –confidence,it is a great relief to hear from no less an authority than the World Bank that we are turning the corner in regards to HIV/AIDS.
Surely, the high accident rate causing such unacceptable fatalities is less daunting than HIV?
We say that making our roads safe for the first time in our modern history is not a challenge that is beyond our potential. Creating road safety awareness, indeed of all forms of occupational safety, is a mighty weapon. It is working against AIDS- it will work even better to stamp out needless road accidents.