The First Departmental Committee on Road Safety of Casanare was held, valid until 2024, created through Decree No. 0289 of December 11, 2020. The purpose of this committee is to articulate the public road safety policy and adopt measures to reduce accidents and road accidents in the department.
During the committee, Pulido presented the management report from January to May 2024 of the Directorate and the Departmental Road Safety Plan. In addition, actions and goals in the short and medium term were discussed and a commission was elected to monitor the agreements.
In this regard, Dr. Darío Hernández Santacoloma, HORO Emergency Coordinator, stated, “This culture of non-compliance with traffic rules has been sustained in the department. During the pandemic we talked about the lack of ICU beds for COVID patients; Now we are showing that these beds are being used mostly for people who suffer traffic accidents. It is worth remembering that we are currently in an emergency due to an increase in severe dengue, these patients require ICU beds and many times they cannot be transferred because they are occupied by patients with traffic accidents, which is why our repeated call to raise awareness on the road.
Meanwhile, Captain Carlos Vásquez, head of the DITRA Section, added, “The most injured road actor continues to be the motorcyclist and the most frequent causes are excessive speed and driving while intoxicated. We have been carrying out awareness campaigns together with the Department’s Traffic Directorate, but the numbers continue to be worrying. To date, 49 road accidents have been recorded, with 19 people dead and 66 people injured.”
It was agreed that the next committee meeting will take place on July 30.
The day took place at the UPTC facilities in Aguazul and was chaired by the Director of Planning, Alfonso Cárdenas, representing Governor César Ortiz Zorro. The Director of Traffic of Casanare, Dayery Pulido, led the assembly, which had the participation of the Ministry of Transportation, the Traffic and Transportation Section of the Police, the National Road Safety Agency, ANI, Covioriente, Regional Hospital of the Orinoquía HORO, Yopal Firefighters, and other members and authorities of the department.
