DRIVER TRAINING IN AFRICA - THE UN-ECA DRIVING MANUAL - Introduction and Need for Improvements

Sep 18, 2026

Uploaded by Jacob

The paper examines Africa’s severe road accident problem and argues that driver error is consistently a primary contributing cause across many countries. It explains how police statistics may contain bias, yet still shows that driver mistakes and inadequate driver behaviour are widespread. Comparisons between developing and developed contexts highlight weaker driving discipline in parts of Africa. The discussion links these issues to gaps in training and testing systems and motivates improvements through a regional driving manual and harmonised standards supported by trials in Cameroon and Zimbabwe.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages10

Reading Time25 min

AccessFree to download

DRIVER TRAINING IN AFRICA-THE UN-ECA DRIVING MANUAL

1. INTRODUCTION

2. THE NEED FOR DRIVER TRAINING IMPROVEMENTS

Reprint TTLE Driver training in Africa -The UN -ECAdriving manual by AJ Downing Overseas Centre Transport Research LaboratoryCrowthorne Berkshire United Kingdom Downing,AJ,1989.Driver training in Africa -The UN-ECA driving manual.In:Second African Road Safety Congress,Addis Ababa 16-20 October 1989. # DRIVER TRAINING IN AFRICA-THE UN-ECA DRIVING MANUAL ## 1.INTRODUCTION It has been demonstrated earlier in this Congress that African countries have a very serious road accident problem.Forexample farality rates per vehicle registered on the road are usually between 20 to 30 times higher than those of developedcountries. As driver error is always the most common accident cause idenified by the police it would seem likely that improvementsin driver training have some potential for accident reduction.Also the introduction of a manual for dnivers and instructorswhich lays down an agreed system of driving is a logical first step to raising driving standards and harmonising themregionally in Africa To work towards meeting this requirement,the United Naions Economic Commission for Africa(ECA)has developed a guide for heavy goods vehicle(HGV)drivers with the assistance of the Transport and RoadResearch Laboratory (TRRL),UK.This guide represents the first phase of the ECA's African Highway Code initiaive. The development of the guide including the background to it and the resuls of rials in Cameroon and Zimbabwe is themain subject of this paper.Other training improvements are also considered and the paper concludes by making some broadrecommendations for the future. ## 2.THE NEED FOR DRIVER TRAINING IMPROVEMENTS In most counries it is normal for the police to blame at least three quarters of the road accidents on road users.A moredetailed breakdown of causes given in Table 1,indicates that it is usually the driver who is held responsible and,in all butone of the four countries,driver error was considered to have been the main cause in close to 70 per cent of the reportedaccidents.It should be noted that there may be some bias in the police statistics in that the police repors may underestimatethe role played by such factors as poor road design because the police investigate the accident with prosecuion in mind.Nevertheless,even if other factors have contributed to the accidents it is clear that in a very large proportion of them,oneor more driver erors were commited.This in am suggests that there is some scope for reducing drivers'mistakes byimproving the training of learners or qualified drivers. Comparisons between developing and developed counry police starisics do not reveal any marked differences berweenthe pattem of road accident causes.However,an intemational study of driver behaviour (Jacobs,1981)indicated thatdrivers were less disciplined in developing countries.For example,in Nairobi only 16 per cent of divers chose to stop forpedestrians on an uncontrolled crossing compared with up to 72 per cent in Great Britain.Similarly,results fromobservations carried out in Egypt(see fig 1)indicated poor driver behaviour at major road junctions and,perhaps moreworryingly,they demonstrated that the professional-drivers-were-the worst offenders with ·thirty per cent of bus dniversfailing to give way. TABLE 1 CAUSES OF ROAD ACCIDENTS | Causes | Percentage of accidents | | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | | Kenya
(1986) | Malawi
(1987) | Swaziland
(1983) | Zambia
(1983) | Zimbabwe
(1988) | | Driver error | 44.7 | 65.7 | 72.4 | 60.4 | 71.3 | | Pedestrian error | 27.4 | 13.2 | 5.2 | 14.4 | 11.7 | | Cyclist error | 4.9 | | 3.7 | - | 1.8 | | Drinks/drugs/
fatigue etc | 1.8 | 1.0 | 3.3 | 1.2 | 3.2 | | Road/weather
conditions | 1.8 | 4.8 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 0.1 | | Mechanical fault | 6.1 | 6.3 | 9.6 | 5.8 | 4.4 | | Other
(Passenger,
animals) | 14.7 | 8.9 | 4.8 | 8.5 | 7.

FAQs

Why does the paper focus on improving driver training in African countries?

Because driver error is identified as the most common accident cause in many reported cases, and improvements in training are presented as a practical route to reducing mistakes.

How does the paper treat limitations of police accident statistics?

It notes possible bias since investigations may understate non-driver factors like poor road design, but it still concludes that driver errors occur frequently in accidents.

What evidence is used to support the need for training improvements?

The paper cites comparisons of accident-cause breakdowns, international observations of driver behaviour (e.g., stopping for pedestrians), and knowledge-test results from Cameroon and Zimbabwe showing weaknesses in specific driving topics.

Sep 18, 2026

Uploaded by Jacob