Movido Foundation urges firm measures to address road accidents

Santo Domingo — The Dominican Road Mobility Foundation (Movido) warned that the critical traffic situation in the country is not a random event, but the result of the systematic non-compliance with public policies and the lack of effective application of current legislation.

The organization’s reaction comes after statements by Jean Todt, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety, who recently described the state of Dominican traffic as “a disaster ” and a serious public health problem.

In a press release, Movido asserted that road safety in the Dominican Republic cannot continue to depend on ad hoc operations or media announcements. In this regard, they pointed out that the sector’s stagnation stems from structural deficiencies in the enforcement of Law 63-17 on Mobility, Land Transportation, Traffic, and Road Safety.

He also denounced that the authorities have repeatedly given in to pressure from sectors of the transport industry, weakening control measures.

In the educational and preventative field, the foundation regretted that the inclusion of road safety education in the school curriculum has been in the announcement phase for more than two years without being fully implemented. 

Similarly, he questioned why awareness programs leave out young people from vulnerable communities, who make up the highest proportion of fatalities from traffic accidents.

Given this situation, the Movido Foundation called on the central Government, the National Congress, the National Institute of Transit and Land Transportation ( Intrant ) and the General Directorate of Transit and Land Transportation Safety ( Digesett ) to establish road safety as a true state policy.

“Every death on the roads is preventable. The Dominican Republic no longer needs more diagnoses; it needs decisions, implementation, and results ,” the group emphasized.