20 Aug 2017

The acting deputy director in the Department of Road Transport and Safety (DRTS) Mr Godwin Tlhogo has called upon all stakeholders to play an active role in helping the government fight road accidents in the country.

Mr Tlhogo made the call recently during the northern regional road safety youth workshop that was held in Francistown under the theme, Integrated youth interventions towards decade of action for road safety.

He expressed concern over the continuing occurrence of road accidents which affected the young generation in particular.

As such he explained that there was a lot needed for collective measures to be put in place in order to curb the situation.

Mr Tlhogo emphasised road safety should not be the sole responsibility of government, but all stakeholders should be proactive in joining the government efforts.

“Collective action by the private sector, government and civil society in addressing the issues of road safety among all road users is an important approach,” he explained adding that the youth in particular should be involved as this had proven to bear fruit to the extent that they were likely to understand the situation much better.

He said in 2015 the number of recorded fatalities was 411 while in 2016, 450 deaths were registered.

He explained that since the beginning of this year until July 31 there was a slight reduction in the number of fatalities compared to the same period last year.

Mr Tlhogo highlighted that the reason why road accidents continued to happen was that some road users particularly the youth tended to exhibit dangerous attitudes of over speeding, use of mobile phones while driving and driving under the influence of alcohol, among others.

He appealed to road users to refrain from such behaviour and come up with life saving initiatives which will ultimately benefit the nation as a whole.

For his part, Superintendent Alison Mbaiwa  expressed concern over the high rate atwhich the youth get involved in road accidents across  the country.

He said the youth were the windows of the country’s economy and as such should be the ones playing a significant role in adding value to national process of developing and transforming the country.

Supt Mbaiwa pointed out that the youth accounted for 53 per cent of the deaths by road accidents.

He thus called upon the youth to be responsible by driving safely and abiding by the road safety laws and road signs.

He also advised the youth to form active clubs in their respective areas which they could use to discuss and share experiences on road safety measures to put in place.

In their comments the youth expressed gratitude to the DRTS for hosting such workshop with them as they were the most vulnerable group in road accidents.

They explained that the workshop provided them with a platform to share experiences as well as come up with interventions for road safety awareness.

They decried poor conditions of roads noting that roads had pot holes which they said contributed to the increase in the number of road accidents. ENDS