ONGWEDIVA – Oshana Police Regional Commander Commissioner Ndahangwapo Kashihakumwa has said that accident prevention, safety and protection of human lives are not only the responsibility of the police – “but everyone should ensure all people are safe”.
While officially opening the Festive Season Road Safety Campaign in Oshana Region at Ongwediva last week, Kashihakumwa said there are people who think that the issue of road safety only lays with the police while turning a blind eye to the illegal, negligent and irresponsible behaviour of some drivers.
It is for this reason the Oshana head of the police has urged community members to start reporting drivers that are breaking traffic rules and regulations.
“Nowadays people that consider themselves rich are competing. When one buys a BMW of a 2013 model, the friend buys a 2014 model, when one buys a Mercedes Benz, the other person buys a more expensive car, and you find them competing to see who can drive three hours between Windhoek and Oshakati or who can drive 15 minutes between Ongwediva and Ondangwa, but innocent people walking along the road are the ones that lose their lives when these irresponsible drivers are involved in accidents. The best thing is to give information to the police so that we can inform our police officers at the roadblocks,” said Kashihakumwa.
Kashihakumwa said this year’s festive season is not the usual festive season because apart from Christmas, New Year and weddings, it also ties in with the elections and celebrations of the elections’ outcome.
According to the regional commander, whichever political party wins the election there will be members celebrating and the celebratory mood is likely to last for the whole festive season.
“People are likely to celebrate until next year and you’ll find some with cool-boxes and spinning their vehicles. We should be careful. Everything can be prevented, and 99 percent of the accidents taking place on our roads are preventable accidents,” said Kashihakumwa.
The Festive Season Road Safety Campaign is an initiative of the Motor Vehicle Accident Fund. The Ongwediva roadblock is sponsored by Nored Electricity and this year over N$100 000 was raised by the business community for the campaign.
By Helvy Shaanika