28 Aug 2016

Minister of Transport and Communications, Mr Tshenolo Mabeo says road crashes affect the country’s economy.

Mr Mabeo was speaking at the launch of the Accident Free A1-Act Now campaign in Dibete on Friday.

He said road crashes had some implications on government, particularly because money used in taking care of road accident victims in hospitals could be used to develop the country.

He said the latest WHO global status report on road safety indicated that about 1.2 million lives were lost each year and over 50 million more people succumbed to serious injuries. 

Such tragedies, he added, remained the leading cause of death among the youth aged between 15 and 29.  

The minister also said the Botswana Police Service records indicated that the country continued to record high numbers of road accidents, many of which resulted in serious and minor injuries and even death each year. 

Again, he said police statistics further revealed that the youth were the most affected road user group.

Minister Mabeo said in the past two to three months, roads had been hard hit with many young lives lost, especially along the stretch of the A1 road. 

He attributed such road crashes to a number of factors, adding road traffic accidents did not have a single cause.   

Further, he said the latest police statistics indicated that from January to August this year, 294 lives were lost compared to 252 in 2015 while over 700 people had sustained serious injuries.

On the A1 road statistics, he said 39 fatal crashes, which resulted in 74 fatalities, had since been recorded in January 2016 to date. Comparatively, the year 2015 recorded 37 fatal crashes, resulting in 49 deaths. 

Mr Mabeo said government, the ministry and Batswana were concerned about such high statistics, hence the essential joined intervention measure as a mitigating factor.

“It is therefore the reason people are gathered in Dibete to launch the ‘Accident Free A1- Act Now’ campaign, which is a holistic intervention by road safety stakeholders. This action is needed now; hence the appropriateness of the theme which speaks to all as it propels people to act against this social ill to ensure that roads are safer,” he said. 

Mr Mabeo said the campaign was necessitated by the recent tragic accidents along the A1 road in the past months of June and July where lives were lost. 

“Statistics show that most of our roads have become blood baths and continue to claim lives especially of the youth all over Botswana,” he said. 

Nonetheless, Mr Mabeo commended the private sector, media, churches and local communities for coming on board, saying government would not win the battle alone.

He added that it was through commitment that people would build a safe, united and proud nation envied by all.

He said his ministry, through the Department of Road Transport and Safety promoted partnerships with stakeholders to accomplish the goal of safer roads, safer road users and safer vehicles as pronounced in the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020.ENDS