Target 4: Is a Life-Saving Opportunity—Are MRU Countries Acting Fast Enough?
As the second half of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety (2021–2030) begins, Road Safety Action International (RSAI) continues its independent review of how countries in the Mano River Union (MRU)—Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Côte d’Ivoire—are progressing toward the 12 global targets. This article evaluates Target 4, which focuses not on the future road network, but on the vast, often-neglected infrastructure that already exists—and is currently being used by millions every day.
Target 4 states: “By 2030, more than 75% of travel on existing roads is on roads that meet technical standards for all road users that take into account road safety.” The premise is both simple and urgent. While investment in new roads tends to receive political attention and donor support, it is the existing roads—school access routes, inter-urban highways, village connectors, and market paths—that often pose the highest risk to life. These roads, used most frequently by pedestrians, children, motorcyclists, and informal transport operators, are rarely designed to protect vulnerable road users. They lack essential safety features such as crosswalks, pedestrian shoulders, traffic-calming measures, signage, lighting, and barriers. In many cases, they were not designed at all—they simply evolved.
RSAI’s independent evaluation centered on three indicators: (1) the presence of national road
safety assessment programs for existing roads; (2) public investment in upgrading
high-risk
locations; and (3) the existence of a policy target tracking the proportion
of
travel occurring
on safe roads.
The findings were both revealing and concerning.
Côte d’Ivoire stands out as the regional leader in this area. Its national agency
AGEROUTE has
institutionalized road safety assessments, and there are visible investments in dangerous
locations, particularly in urban zones and corridors of economic importance. However, even in
Côte d’Ivoire, a formal 75% safe travel target has yet to be articulated. Liberia and Sierra
Leone show signs of progress, but mostly through externally funded road projects. For example,
World Bank and African Development Bank projects often include safety audits and retrofitting as
conditions—but this progress has not yet translated into national policy frameworks or
government-funded retrofit programs. Guinea, unfortunately, remains the furthest behind, with no
known government-led assessments or structured upgrades on record.
| Country | Systematic Safety Assessments of Existing Roads |
Investments to Upgrade High-Risk Locations on existing roads | 75% Safe Travel Target in National Policy |
|---|---|---|---|
| LR Liberia | ⚠️ Partial — donor-funded projects only (World Bank, EU) | ⚠️ Some targeted investments, but no national program | ❌ No national target or tracking |
| SL Sierra Leone | ⚠️ Partial — some donor-supported assessments (World Bank) | ❌ Very limited, mostly donor-dependent | ❌ No national target or tracking |
| GN Guinea | ❌ No systematic program | ❌ Very limited | ❌ No national target or tracking |
| CI Côte d’Ivoire | ✅ National safety assessments via AGEROUTE | ✅ Active investment programs on priority corridors | ❌ No explicit 75% target adopted |
The implications are stark. Without national strategies for retrofitting high-risk roads, preventable deaths will persist. Unlike targets that require multi-decade legal harmonization or high-tech systems, Target 4 presents an immediate opportunity for impact. Retrofitting dangerous roads with proven interventions is one of the most cost-effective ways to save lives. Raised pedestrian crossings, speed humps in school zones, crash barriers at sharp turns, lighting at dark intersections—these are not expensive, and they don’t require futuristic technologies. They simply require commitment, planning, and sustained funding.
To drive progress, RSAI urges each MRU government to treat road safety retrofitting as a national priority. Liberia and Sierra Leone should move beyond donor dependency and establish dedicated road safety audit and intervention units within their ministries of public works or transport. Guinea needs to take foundational steps by enacting legislation and initiating basic assessments to identify high-risk road sections. Côte d’Ivoire, while ahead, must scale its efforts and adopt a measurable 75% safe travel target to lead by example.
At the regional level, the MRU Secretariat has a strategic opportunity to align efforts. A joint corridor safety improvement framework could fast-track results by focusing on trade and transport routes that cross borders. ECOWAS should also adopt Target 4 as a shared benchmark, integrating it into the regional road infrastructure policy agenda. Development partners—multilateral banks, bilateral donors, and NGOs—must support these efforts by tying funding to measurable safety improvement outcomes and building institutional capacity in road assessment and design.
The reality is this: the most dangerous roads in West Africa are not the ones that haven’t been built yet—they are the ones we are already using. Fixing them is not optional—it’s urgent. Every day lost to inaction means more lives lost to poor design and oversight.
The road to safety begins with where we already walk, ride, and drive. Target 4 is the blueprint. Now we must build.