“My dear fellow Seychellois,

“Another Road Safety Week is upon us. Unfortunately, we are still in the midst of a pandemic, so once again physical events will not be an option. On the bright side, we can still use various mediums to spread many of our important messages.

“‘Be a Road Safety Hero’ is our theme for this year, and it is dedicated to all our road safety heroes.

“Let me start by asking all of you this, what is a road safety hero? Or better yet, who can be a road safety hero? We, at the Ministry of Transport, believe that anyone who helps make journeys safer for themselves, and others, either through their profession, relationship, or simply as a caring and responsible individual, is a road safety hero.

“How, you ask? The answer is simple; we are all road users and road safety remains one of our top priorities. We all contribute towards each other’s wellbeing on the road on a daily basis, whether we realise or not; respecting road signs, observing speed limits, using pedestrian crossing, making sure our child is cycling in a safe zone, holding their hands when walking, the list goes on, and whichever category you fit in, you have certainly done at least one of the above and that is your valid contribution, and that makes you a road safety hero.

“If we decide to be a bit more specific, we can certainly look at few key personnel; engineers, mechanics, drivers, traffic wardens and police, policy analysts… When it comes to the care in unfortunate circumstances where one is involved in an accident, we have nurses, doctors, ambulance personnel, firemen, rescue services… I’m sure you can think of so many more.

“Hence, whether you are a professional, a parent, a friend, an employer, an employee, a colleague, a driver, a rider or a pedestrian, we all have a part to play and we all need to constantly come together in order to continuously improve our level of safety on the road, near the road, off the road to a certain extent.

“‘There are many dangers on the road’ or ‘The road is a very dangerous place’… Phrases that we often hear, and I don’t disagree 100%, but the reality is however, that many of those dangers are caused by us and many can be completely avoided if we all played our part in keeping our roads safe.

“Though we celebrate Road Safety Week, let us not forget that road safety extends beyond a week in a year – Road safety matters every single day in a year. The more aware we are, the more we can actively

do our part.

“As we officially launch the Road Safety Week, I invite all of you to take a moment and to reflect on your conduct as a road user – what role are you playing to keep yourself and others safe? What more can you

do? How can you be a road safety hero?

“I said it earlier this year, I will say it again – Life does not have a rewind button, nor does it have a reset button, let us not be careless, let us not jeopardize one’s opportunity at life, let us all do our part in making Seychelles’ road the safest.

“Let us amplify our efforts, our voices and our support, because every single act CAN make a difference – we would be saving lives!

Source: Seychelles Nation