Angola’s national police chief Arnaldo Carlos has pledged to reduce road accidents by 50 percent over the next five years, citing the country’s current high mortality rate of five to 10 daily fatalities caused by traffic accidents.
Carlos, the general commander of the country’s national police, made the pledge Monday at the end of the second extraordinary session of the Council of Ministers held in Luanda, the capital of Angola. He stated that the goal is to position Angola among the top 10 African countries with low rates of road accidents and among the top five with low mortality rates within the Southern African Development Community region by 2027.
The police chief acknowledged that road accidents throughout Angola are “quite alarming.” According to him, Angola records between 18 and 20 road accidents daily, with mortality rates ranging from five to 10 daily deaths.
“When there are five homicides, there are about 20 deaths resulting from road accidents,” he said, attributing the causes to drivers’ recklessness, lack of education regarding the Traffic Code among pedestrians, poor road conditions, and the poor technical condition of vehicles.
He warned that the annual count of road accidents and fatalities is on the rise. In 2022, the recorded number of accidents surpassed 13,360, with 2,999 fatalities, compared to 10,938 accidents and 2,427 deaths recorded in 2018. Enditem
