10 Apr 2014

In an effort to reduce road accidents, out of school youth in Kanye have been encouraged to group themselves into road safety awareness clubs.

Chief injury prevention officer of Motor Vehicle Accident Fund (MVAF), Mr Marvin Mmutle said during a road safety workshop in Kanye recently.

He said MVAF spent over P3 million every year assisting road accident victims especially the economically active youth. Thus, he argued that road safety awareness clubs, particularly amongst the youth, would encourage them to avoid risky behaviour that could open them up to risks of road accidents.

After forming the clubs, Mr Mmutle explained that they would be required to identify a road traffic problem in their community then apply for funding from MVAF with the view to address the problem.

He said youth clubs could get a maximum grant of P 250 000 at a time to address any particular problem that they would have identified as a project and might apply for top up later if there is need for such.

One of the youth and director of Bana ba motho Theatre Artistes, Mr Sandy Rowland urged MVAF to do a rigorous community mobilisation to reach out to as many young people as possible with road safety messages.

He also advised MVAF to have a scheduled annual road safety workshop in the district for reinforcement purposes, adding that youth drama groups could also help raise awareness if their support was enlisted.

Meanwhile one of the attendees, Ms Queen Leteemane has suggested that owners of public transport vehicles found with standing commuters be charged for exceeding the legal carrying capacities of such vehicles. ENDS