This month, our regular columnist on Africa’s road safety, Brian Kanaahe Mwebaze takes us to Botswana where a drunk driving cop hit and severely injured the mother of a young philanthropist, humanitarian and motivational speaker, 21 year old Gogontlejang Phaladi. Oh, she’s also the Executive Director Gogontlejang Phaladi Pillar of Hope Project and yes, you guessed right. She’s on Facebook & Twitter.

Relatives and friends of victims of road traffic crashes are real people who eat and sleep, study and even work but inside them lies some deep life events. I first interacted with this friend (for lack of a better word) at the Africa Region Consultation led by Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH)in Johannesburg, in May 2015. She gave key notes at the opening plenary, on adolescent health highlighting the burden of injuries and disabilities. I met with her again in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in October 2015 during consultation for the Common Africa Position to the World Humanitarian Summit (May 2016) which I was supposed to attend in Instabul, Turkey (long story)…Over our discussions, it happens that her mum was severely injured by a drunk cop! Yep, you heard me good…A drunk cop.

I manage to skype with Gogontlejang Phaladi from my small hot room in Juba, South Sudan over what happened.

She pauses, searching deep into the past for a few seconds before narrating…

Her mum was involved in 2 road crashes in a space of 1 month in 1999. The latter was the most defining remembered one. On that fateful evening she was driving with 3 other passengers along Gaborone- Serowe road. Two police men who were later found to had been driving under the influence of alcohol sped and bumped into the car that Phaladi’s mum was driving, rolling and throwing them off the road

I momentarily hold my breath, as I have a similar experience in 1998 when my dad was involved in a road traffic crash. I ask her if she still wants to continue to talk about it. Ten or so seconds later, we continue.

I’m literally on the edge of my chair, inquisitive about what type of help her mum received right there!

Gogontlejang Phaladi underscores pillar 5 of the UN Decade of Action 2011-2020 and thanks the MED RESCUE team for the prehospital care they rendered to her mum who had sustained a broken pelvis, limbs, and head injuries. Her mum was hospitalized for 7 months before being transferred to her home where she underwent continuous rehabilitation to date.

Gogontlejang Phaladi was 4 but she does remember the impact the crash had in her life.She changed and came to a nearer school so she could be able to see her mum in hospital most often reading story books for her. Her dad, who for the record is the first Motswana archaeologist who led in the establishment of Botswana National Museum, left his job to take care of his wife and two young daughters. Although the Motor Vehicle Accident Fund (MVA) of Botswana provided some monetary compensation to payment of hospital bills, it was small and Phaladi’s family had to sell some of their property to finish off the bills. Due to the medical condition of her mum, her driving license was taken.

Potentially the future president of Botswana,  I ask her what she would have done to the drunk driving Cops if she had all the powers. Gogontlejang Phaladi pulls that trademark smile and manages to say:-

“Hmmm, when something bad and tragic happens to you, first thing you think of is revenge especially in a road crash when you are not at fault. Obviously, I’d want justice to be served, perpetrators never be allowed to drive a car, but there is a lot of irresponsibility on the roads in Botswana. Most often we are taught to just get a license but not to really drive responsibly”.

Miss Phaladi emphasizes Road Safety Education and Enforcement as the top 4Es on behaviour change communication for all road users:-from pedestrians, two wheeled vehicles to trailers.

She says “Road Safety should be taught as early as primary school and throughout the whole life cycle so that by the time you get to driving school, you have a culture of safety. Currently, drink driving is punishable by 2 years; I think it should be a minimum of 5 years as a deterrent! We need to have our governments and practitioners to strengthen psychosocial support mechanisms to victims, friends and relatives of Road Traffic Crash survivors. Financial compensation isn’t enough!”

Oh, and her parents forgave and withdrew the case on the cops. On an annual basis, the Botswana Police record close to 1000 death resulting from road accidents. They need to do better internally because these are not JUST numbers.

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When: Thursday, June 9, 2016 at 9:00AM EST
Where: Kaiser Family Foundation, 1330 G St, NW Washington, DC

Hosted by: USAID, PEPFAR, YouthPower Learning, the World Bank, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and The Lancet
Who can attend: Event is open to anyone interested by registering through the link below. The event will be live streamed, register below for a reminder to watch the live stream.

Throughout modern history, urbanization has been a major driver of development and poverty reduction. Governments can respond to this key development opportunity through Habitat III by promoting a new model of urban development that is able to integrate all facets of sustainable development to promote equity, welfare and shared prosperity. Habitat III is the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development to take place in Quito, Ecuador, from 17 – 20 October 2016.

It is time to think urban: how to mobilise the global community and focus all levels of human settlements, including small rural communities, villages, market towns, intermediate cities and metropolises for demographic and economic growth. Habitat III can help systematise the alignment between cities and towns and national planning objectives in their role as drivers of national economic and social development.

Urbanization is an unprecedented challenge. By the middle of the century four of every five people might be living in towns and cities. Urbanization and development are inextricably linked and it is necessary to find a way of ensuring the sustainability of growth. Urbanization had become a driving force as well as a source of development with the power to change and improve lives.

Habitat III Conference has the convening power to bring together all actors to achieve these objectives. Solutions for the complex challenge of urbanization can only be found by bringing together Member States, multilateral organizations, local governments, private sector and civil society.

Cities today occupy approximately only 2% of the total land, however:

In advance of the Informal Hearings with Stakeholders in New York on (6-7 June) and Informal Intergovernmental Meetings (8-10 June), you are inviteed to review the following sections of the Zero Draft of the New Urban Agenda and share your feedback. Please indicate which sub-topic/s you are addressing in your response. The forum is open for comments until 13 June 2016.

Our Director, Floor Lieshout offered the following inputs and we invite you to add your own. As you might know, the leading cause of death for young people (aged 15-29) is road traffic injuries. Every day around 1000 young people (under the age of 25) die on our roads. Often they are vulnerable road users (pedestrians, cyclists, etc), while going to school. YOURS is therefore very much interested to comment on the ‘Mobility’ part within the draft document.

Endorsing a few things mentioned earlier:

• YOURS agrees with Natalie Draisin to introduce the ‘Safe System’ approach in the text. When we talk about ‘effective implementation’, it means we need to look at the evidence. Proven measures that save lives, make cities healthier and inclusive to all while protecting the most vulnerable. The Safe System approach is such proven ‘effective implementation’. Therefore we support fully her language. 
• YOURS endorses JP Amaral to use the term ‘sustainable transport’ throughout the document. Excellent idea. Let there be no misunderstanding that we need to get rid of the ‘old, broken and unfair’ transport system.

Then YOURS would like to add a few new comments as well:

1. Stakeholder Engagement Framework. We are advocating for meaningful youth participation throughout the entire process of decision-making. Half of the world’s population is younger than 25 years. And often we see youth being marginalized or tokenized in the decision making process. Therefore we suggest the wording:

   93 “This partnership approach includes all stages of the policy process, from planning to budgeting, implementation, and monitoring through well-resourced permanent mechanisms that include designated times and spaces for all, with particular attention to young people, grassroots and marginalized groups.”

2. 112 (a): A massive increase in safe public transport, walking, and cycling; We would suggest to add the word ‘safe’. Please do not promote walking and cycling if its not safe, e.g. the infrastructure and policies are not in place. 
3. 127: The immense financing gap for safe infrastructure (minimum of 3 stars) is one of the most pressing challenges to be addressed in order to secure safe and adequate service provision to the people. We realize that bridging this gap, especially at the local level, is a prerequisite for achieving the New Urban Agenda and the SDGs. In this course, we recognize that the enormous investments needed, can only be realized by leveraging on domestic resources and tapping into external financial sources and enabling local government to access these resources.

   A massive challenge we face in the world is that when governments do get loans for roads, there are no minimum standards. The ‘three star’ coalition is a partnership of organizations around the world that is trying to convince executives at the development banks to include safety criteria with a loan. More information: http://www.fundforglobalhealth.org/join-the-3-star-coalition/

Log on to the consultation here.