“Road transport injuries are increasingly being recognized as a growing public health epidemic in sub Sahara Africa which has 20% of such deaths worldwide. A trend with secondhand vehicles is to strip original seats and replace them with metal seats to increase seating capacity but the resultant vehicular design has adverse effect on passenger safety in the event of accidents,” he stated.

Dr. Koroma said in 2013, a survey by SLRA showed that over 3,000 public vehicles were fitted with seats. He said in the field of biomechanics, sharp rigid objects tend to maximise trauma in the event of impact whilst, soft deformable structure are benign and act as buffer to protect vulnerable parts of the body.

He recommended that sensitization of the public to increase awareness of the risks associated with metal seats and formulation of policy backed by enabling laws to increase compliance.
SLRSA Acting Executive Director Mrs. Memunatu Koroma commended Dr. Owizz Koroma for his commitment and assured the ban on metals seats will be enforced soon.