Community policing officer
Despite a great number of education and scholar patrol campaigns, the City Police Department continues to record avoidable learner and vehicle accidents. From January to date the Windhoek City police has recorded nine fatalities, 46 serious injuries and 129 slight injuries involving pedestrians, of which most of them are school going children. Notable attributes of these accidents; are learners crossing the road at undesignated spots, as well as learners walking along the tar road.
The City Police would like to warn learners and general road users against jaywalking, which is a fineable offence. Jaywalking is defined as crossing of the road just anywhere or in the middle of the road where there are no provisions for pedestrian crossing. According to the Road Traffic and Transport Act, 1999 (Act 22 of 1999), a pedestrian may cross a public road only at a pedestrian crossing or an intersection, or at a distance further than 50 meters from the pedestrian crossing or intersection.
Traffic Operations have uncovered that some learners do not know the difference between a road speed hump and a pedestrian crossing and instead they would cross the road at a speed hump, which could be dangerous. Further, the department has also seen reports of crashes that resulted in injuries and loss of life caused by the tendency of allowing children to play soccer in the middle of the road. The young ones are often caught off-guard and unaware of moving vehicles. As a result, they end up being bumped, mostly by drivers who fail to adhere to the speed limit of 40 kilometers per hour in residential areas. We are therefore requesting parents not to allow their children to play in the road, and appeal to all our residents to do the right thing and report any reckless driving.
In its quest to make Windhoek the safest city in Africa, as per the vision and mission statement, the City Police Department will continue to work closely with schools and road users to ensure that no more life is lost. This will be accomplished by enriching learners and young ones with updated road safety information kits, to be made available at various primary schools, and via City Police website.
If you would like the City Police Department to visit your school to talk to learners about road safety, please call Community and Public Relations Office at 061 290 2541.