10 Jul 2024

The number of road accidents in Botswana is growing, leading to shortage of rehabilitation facilities and expertise.

This was revealed by Motor Vehicle Accident Fund (MVA) senior manager corporate communications, Ms Angela Webb at the MVA Fund stakeholders’ engagement forum in Francistown recently.

Ms Webb said there was lack of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) specialists and bed capacity, which was affecting the response to medical attention that those affected in road accidents receive because there was no personnel to urgently attend to them.

She said the escalating road accidents led to high medical costs and further led to loss of young, economically productive citizens.

She added that 15 331 road crashes were registered in 2023.

Ms Webb said they compensated road accidents victims and also provided third-party insurance cover to drivers and motor vehicle owners. “Every person who is not resident in Botswana and drives a foreign registered motor vehicle into Botswana upon entry is required to pay a Third-Party Insurance Cover and in case they encounter an accident they are covered provided they entered the country legally,” she added.

She also mentioned that the total maximum claimable amount per injured person was P1 million and the money could be used on medical treatment and rehabilitation, incidental expenses like travel and accommodation, enhancement of quality of life such as medical devices and wheelchair, among others.

“However, the fund has the right to sue for recovery of benefits paid to accidents resulting from drunken driving, driving without a valid driving license, driving a defective vehicle causing a crash and foreign registered vehicles that caused a crash but had invalid foreign registered vehicle levy upon entry into the country,” she added. MVA Fund senior manager-injury prevention, Mr Mompati Bontsibokae, said in an attempt to reduce motor vehicle road accidents, the fund had started roadside campaigns to road users about road safety and also used other media to spread the road safety messages.

Mr Bontsibokae said they promoted a workplace road safety culture by incorporating road safety in the workplace through initiatives such as Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) programmes. He said they faced challenges of road users who failed to observe road rules hence putting the lives of other users in danger. Divisional Commander for the Northern region, Senior Assistant Commissioner Cynthia Setilo, advised the fund to consider modifying vehicles in order to accommodate the disabled.

She said road markings were confusing in some areas, something she identified as some of the factors that contributed to bad driving which led to accidents. Ms Promise Chuma, a teacher at Selolwe Junior Secondary School said there was need to have pavements around schools for the safety of learners ended up walking next to the roads which was risky.  ENDS