08 Oct 2020

Botswana Police Service (BPS) spokesperson, Assistant Commissioner Dipheko Motube, says they recorded a lesser number of road accidents during the independence holidays compared to the previous year.

Speaking in an interview, he said last year during the same period, they recorded a total number of 281 accidents while this year they recorded 207 thus a 26 percentage drop.

These records were taken from September 29 to October 4 countrywide.

Assistant Commissioner Motube said 19 fatal road accidents were recorded in the previous years while this year they recorded eight, adding that resultant fatalities further went down from 26 last year to 14. He said out of the eight fatal accidents, three involved pedestrians including a three year old minor who was knocked down in a residential area.

Assistant Commissioner Motube further said numbers of serious injuries also declined.

A total of 46 injuries were recorded last year while this year 26 injuries were recorded and this translated to 50 per cent decrease.

“Most of the fatal and severe road accidents involved drivers between 20 to 40 years and most accidents were a result of over speeding and driving under the influence of alcohol,” he said.

Mr Motube attributed the decline to the COVID-19 protocols especially the inter-zonal movement restrictions. “There was less movement during these holidays due to restricted permits.

This also decreased consumption of alcohol on roads and at the same public health awareness on self-restrictions also came handy hence a decline in road traffic accidents,” he said.     

Regarding traffic violations, Assistant Commissioner Motube said a total number of 6 141 cases were recorded this year compared to 6 651 numbers recorded during the same period in 2019.

However, he said offenses of driving without a driver’s license remained high with a total of 788 cases this year compared to 771 detected in the previous year. ENDS