Deputy chief of the Windhoek City Police Eliaser Iyambo has urged motorists to ascertain whether their vehicles are roadworthy before taking to the roads for the festive season.

“My advice to people who want to embark on the road for the festive season is to ascertain and correct the defects on their vehicles. The prime purpose of this is just to save lives,” Iyambo said on Tuesday during the launch of the City Police’s road safety campaign.

The City Police and the Roads Authority launched the campaign as part of the National Festive Season Road Safety Campaign to sensitise motorists about the importance of the roadworthiness of their vehicles.

Several car owners brought their vehicles to the City Police headquarters for free testing at the mobile vehicle testing station provided by the Roads Authority.

Iyambo said the initiative was meant to encourage motorists to keep their vehicles in good working condition, especially when embarking on long journeys.

“It is part of the national festive season road campaign, where we are saying to do the right thing and save lives, so we were urging members of the public to ascertain whether their vehicles are roadworthy,” he said.

Concerning crime prevention in Windhoek during the festive season, Iyambo said that operations are already underway.

“We already have an operation that is ongoing between the City Police and the Namibian Police Force in the Khomas Region. We are targeting housebreaking and armed robberies and we already have members that are carrying out the operation in all 22 zones within the Windhoek municipality, so we are urging members of the public to report any suspicious movements,” said Iyambo.

Meanwhile, he commended the good relationship between law enforcement and members of the public in combating crime in the city.

Housebreaks, robberies, and thefts from vehicles were major criminal activities that the police dealt with over the past year.

“But the number of those crimes has drastically gone down because of the concerted effort between the law enforcement officers and the community. We would like to thank the community for providing us with information. Several hard-core criminals are behind bars, but they did not put themselves there; they were caught by the police with the assistance of the community,” he said. -Nampa

Caption: Roadworthy… Motorists had their vehicles tested for roadworthiness.

Photo: Nampa