The rising concern over the number of road accidents in the country has seen the World Health Organisation (WHO) donate traffic equipment to the Fiji Police Force.

WHO representatives donated six breathalyser kits and one camera-equipped radar gun, which were received by the Police Commissioner Brigadier-General Sitiveni Qiliho.

Seventy people died last year on Fiji’s roads, up by 10 from 2016, and Brigadier-General Qiliho said a strong response was needed in order to address the problem.

“Last year we recorded an increase in road fatalities and this is why we currently have the national Operation Tatarovi focusing on traffic to reduce the number of accidents and road fatalities,” he said.

The WHO’s Pacific Technical Support programme director Doctor Corinne Capuano said the donation was in line with the Decade for Road Safety Action 2011-2020 plan.

By 2030, the WHO expects road traffic injuries to be the fifth leading cause of death in the world, above certain cancers, diabetes mellitus and HIV/AIDS.

In March 2010, the United Nations General Assembly officially announced the plan following the First Global Ministerial Conference hosted by the Government of the Russian Federation in 2009.

According to the WHO website, road traffic crashes were acknowledged by the UN as major challenges to the achievement of health and development goals.

Five people have already died in the first two months of 2018, two less than in the same period last year.

“There is a lot of talk about having too many cars on our roads, but this is not an excuse,” the commissioner said.

“As the institution responsible for enforcing road safety we are always grateful for any form of assistance that will strengthen our institutional capacity for road policing”.

Edited by Percy Kean

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