When the Road Becomes a Graveyard: A Silent Epidemic Killing Sierra Leone’s Youth

Each time a vehicle careens around a corner without regard, or a rider without a helmet speeds off in the dark, a young life is gamble. The stakes? The very backbone of Sierra Leone’s future — our youth, our strength, our promise. Every day on the streets of Sierra Leone, lives are being shattered. It is no longer malaria, tuberculosis, or cholera alone that claim the lives of our people. Increasingly, it is the recklessness on our roads—our Okada riders, Kekeh drivers, overloaded trucks, speeding cars—that is cutting down our youth in their prime.

Sobering Facts: Lives Lost, Futures Shattered

At Connaught Hospital alone, data from the Accident & Emergency Department reveals that 62.02% of all surgical emergencies are due to road traffic accidents:

• 38.42% involve motorcycles (Okadas)
• 12.10% involve tricycles (Kekehs)
• 6.10% involve trucks
• 5.40% involve SUVs/cars

And the picture nationally is even grimmer:

• In 2020, Sierra Leone recorded 2,763 road traffic accidents, with 867 deaths and countless serious injuries.
• Of those killed in 2020, 501 were adult males, 334 adult females, and 32 were children. 
• Between January and June 2024, there was a 12.97% increase in fatalities compared to the previous year, with 6,653 crashes, and 1,237 lives lost in just six months.
• In the Western Region alone, 706 crashes in 2023 killed 120 people and injured 687 — many involving motorcycles and tricycles.

According to the WHO Global Status Report on Road Safety (2018), Sierra Leone suffered  27.9 deaths per 100,000 population from road accidents—among the highest in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Disease Burden vs. Road Traffic Fatalities

We often speak of malaria, HIV/AIDS, or tuberculosis as major killers—and rightly so. Yet, road traffic accidents are silently creeping up to rival these diseases:

• Road traffic injuries kill at ~33 deaths per 100,000 people (2019) — a figure that is comparable to some communicable diseases that receive far greater attention.
• Many communicable diseases have seen declines with interventions over decades; in contrast, road traffic deaths have not fallen at the same pace, and for certain months/regions are on the rise again. (For example, the 12.97% increase in the first half of 2024 vs 2023.) 
• Unlike malaria or TB, there are no vaccines for recklessness on the road.
• Beyond deaths, survivors suffer long-term disabilities — amputations, fractures, traumatic brain injuries — creating a chronic burden on families, communities, and hospitals.

 

Human Cost: Beyond the Numbers

Statistics tell part of the story, but behind every number is a human tragedy. They are sons, daughters, students, apprentices, breadwinners, future leaders.

Imagine Mariatu, a 19-year-old promising university student. One reckless ride home without a helmet, one Okada colliding with a speeding car — and Mariatu’s promising future is gone in an instant.

Or Alhaji, a 25-year-old Kekeh driver, left paralysed after a crash, now unable to provide for his young family.

Imagine a 20-year-old trader, Hassan, full of dreams. A motorcycle accident. A head injury. A lifetime of disability. Parents shaken. Economic potential lost—not just for one individual, but for a family, a community.

For every death, there are dozens who survive with broken bones, spinal injuries, or brain damage — forced out of work, schools abandoned, dreams cut short. Families are thrust into poverty, children into despair, and communities into silence. When young people die or are disabled, it’s not only grief: it's lost productivity, missed incomes, school dropout, increased dependency, mental trauma, social instability. Cultural and political leadership suffers when young voices are gone or hampered.

 

Why This Must Change

Our young people, aged 15–40, are Sierra Leone’s greatest asset — socially, culturally, politically, and economically. They are the workforce, innovators, caregivers, and future leaders. Every road crash that takes a young life or leaves a disability is not just a personal loss; it is a national wound. This is not only a health crisis—it is an economic and social emergency.

Yet what happens when an accident occurs? Too often, bystanders gather with phones out, recording videos for social media, instead of helping. Even those who want to assist often don’t know how to safely handle a victim, how to stop bleeding, how to resuscitate. Lives are lost—not because the injuries were untreatable, but because help never came in time.

 

The Way Forward

We cannot take this any longer. This crisis demands urgent, coordinated actions. There are clear, practical steps we can take:

1. Teach lifesaving skills. Introduce Basic Life Support (BLS) and First Aid training in schools, Ataya bases, and communities. Citizens must know how to respond in emergencies and save lives.
2. Equip communities. Provide first aid kits in schools, police stations, community centers, and marketplaces.
3. Enforce road safety laws. Ensure helmet and seat belt use, curb overspeeding, and introduce alcohol breath-testing for drivers - these must be strictly implemented.
4. Strengthen emergency services. Expand and equip NEMS with more ambulances, trained staff, and coverage across rural areas - so victims can be reached faster.
5. Change mindsets and attitudes. Youth must understand that overspeeding, overloading, drug use and drunk driving are not bravery — they are death traps/sentence. Communities must condemn and not tolerate reckless riding or driving.

 

A Call to Hearts, Not Just Heads

Every Sierra Leonean has a role to play:

• To the youth: value your lives — wear helmets, use seat belts, avoid alcohol and drugs when driving.
• To parents and teachers: instill a culture of safety in children and young people.
• To communities: stand against reckless behavior on the roads.
• To the government and partners: support nationwide training, stronger enforcement, and better emergency response systems.

We cannot continue losing the most productive generation to recklessness on our roads. Every death is preventable, every disability avoidable.

Let us act now — to save lives, preserve our youth, and secure the future of Sierra Leone. Because every single life lost is one too many.

Sierra Leone deserves better. Our young people deserve to live long, healthy lives—to contribute, to build families, to lead. Let us come together—government, hospitals, communities, and citizens—to end this silent epidemic on our roads.

 

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