10 Dec 2019

 Road safety is not only a transport sector issue, but a developmental challenge that cuts across a number of disciplines.

Therefore, a multi sectorial approach towards promotion of the road safety agenda becomes imperative.

Senior manager at Motor Vehicle Accident (MVA) Fund, Mr Mompati Bontsibokae, said this at Central region commemoration of World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims in Thabala recently.

He said road safety stakeholders should up their game and come up with targeted, focused and high impact interventions aimed at reversing the tragic situation.

He said it was regrettable to note that the country continue to witness an upsurge in the number of road crushes on the roads which result in road users sustaining minor and serious injuries and fatalities, in extreme cases.

He said recently Botswana police reported a fatal accident near Rakops, which resulted in the loss of nine lives.

Another accident occurred along Palapye-Serowe and claimed two lives.

He also said a glance at the statistics from an operation undertaken by the Botswana Police Service and transport inspectorate divisions in Serowe showed that some motorists violated road traffic regulations.

He said such offenses were clear indicators of the risk level that road users were exposed to.

Mr Bontsibokae appealed to motorists to exercise restraint on unwarranted behavior on the roads during the festive season. 

He said if the attitude and behavior weree not changed, the safety for the road users would always be compromised.

He explained that this year’s event addressed pillar four of the United Nations Decades of Action for Road Safety 2011- 2020.   

He said the 2018 World Health Organisation (WHO) Global Status Report on Road Safety showed that emerging economies like Botswana were hard hit by such crashes.

The WHO report further indicated that more people succumbed to road traffic injuries than to illness and conditions such as HIV/AIDS and cancer.

Mr Bontsibokae further said the statistics were astounding and it was incumbent upon all road safety stakeholders to come up with targeted, focused and high impact interventions aimed at reversing this tragic situation for the better.

He appealed to all to find it in themselves to work collaboratively and make concerted efforts towards reversing the tragic situation on the roads.

In an effort to combat the scourge of the road carnage, he said, the department through the district road safety committee continued to provide guidance with regard to the effective implementation of the different strategic action pillars as outlined in the National Road Safety Strategy of 2011 to 2020.

He said he was confident that, through the multi stakeholder involvement, key initiatives under the ‘safer vehicles strategic action pillar’, will be achieved. 

He said targeted programmes and information geared towards raising the level of awareness on the importance of safer vehicles, complemented by stringent law enforcement campaigns shall be intensifies during the remainder of the strategy period and beyond.

Mr Bontsibokae said the department was also working towards revising the current legislative framework governing road transport to decisively deal with emerging road traffic challenges and with respect to issues of non – compliance and lawlessness on the roads. Ends