19 Nov 2018

Botswana lags behind in attainment of the United Nations’ Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011 to 2020, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Communications, Mr Kabelo Ebineng, has said.

Mr Ebineng said during a press briefing on Saturday prior to the World Day of Remembrance for road traffic victims in Maun that the roadmap aimed at reducing road accidents by half from 2011 to 2020.

However, he said, Botswana  had not achieved much in the past years since road accidents statistics were still high.

Nonetheless, Mr Ebineng said the Ministry of Transport and Communications had a four pillar strategy that aimed at engaging stakeholders to maximize efforts in the remaining 18 months towards 2020.

On other matters, Mr Ebineng said his ministry would liaise with that of Local Government and Rural Development to ensure that debushing of roads was done next year.

He said some accidents were caused by animals obstructed by bushes along the roads. Mr Ebineng also said they were considering community leadership involvement in monitoring road projects since some companies did a substandard job.

Furthermore, he said a one day police operation in Maun had proved that Maun tops in road traffic accidents.

He said 486 cases were recorded in the roads, of which 64 of people were driving without licenses, 33 unlicensed vehicles, 19 driving without Professional Driving Permit (PRDP), 75 vehicles with worn-out tyres, 19 overloaded vehicles and other misconducts.

For his part, Motor Vehicle Accident (MVA) Fund chief executive officer, Mr Michael Tlhagwane, said behavioural change come from within individuals.

He said most accidents were attributed to human errors, therefore, people should adopt appropriate manners in the roads.

Some media personnel raised issues of bad roads as one contributor to road accidents, thus calling for active involvement of the department of roads in stakeholder engagements.

The director, Department of Road Traffic and Safety (DRTS), Mr Bokhutlo Modukanele said media was also a crucial stakeholder in promoting road safety and sensitising the public.

Mr Modukanele said they hoped to see the media actively involved in reporting in depth about road safety stories. ENDS