The National Road Safety Council (NRSC) says it will be closely monitoring and assessing travellers, mainly on the B1 and B2 roads which have been prone to many accidents, especially during the festive season.
The council launched the campaign on 25 November 2021 in Keetmanshoop and continuing till early next year.
“The strategy is to stay on the B1, from Noordoewer to Outapi. We will also closely monitor the B2. From Rehoboth to Outapi is where almost 60% of the fatalities occur on that specific stretch,” said NRSC’s spokesperson Ambrosius Tierspoor.
He said the law enforcement have been deployed appropriately on that stretch of the road and the B2 which stretches from Okahandja to Swakopmund is where the attention is also going to be.
“At least now with the emergency response and traffic management centre in Arandis, we can monitor in real-time about 50km to ensure that if there are accidents, we report to the authorities so that they can respond on time,” he stated.
On the B2, Tierspoor said they are working closely with the Swakopmund Traffic Management Unit and the police force and emergency response teams from the Motor Vehicle Accident Fund and the private sector.
“There are monitoring cameras and incidents are reported to the police and if accidents take place, then the MVA Fund is immediately there to respond,” he said.
He, however, said the facilities available on the B2 are not on the B1 but he forecast they would be available in the future.
“On the B1, we usually coordinate public education campaigns at the roadblocks. Due to Covid-19, we are not distributing enough pamphlets or public education material, so we would physically engage them and we also observe as the traffic officers are pulling them over whether they are wearing seat belts or not,” said Tierspoor.
He said where there is gross transgression of traffic rules, the law enforcement agencies will take over and apply the law, but NRSC is on standby to ensure road users are educated about the importance of adhering to road traffic rules and regulations.
Common offence
Tierspoor said worrying traffic transgressions commonly seen on Namibian roads include among others, speeding, overloading of passengers in vehicles and driving under the influence of alcohol.
“Cars these days are overloaded, if you try to address them, they start fights and unfortunately we have to send them back from where they are coming from. The option is either they offload some people,” he said.
Tierspoor added: “Drivers are speeding- when you are drunk, you want to impress your friends and tell them you only drive four hours from Windhoek to Oshakati, it’s an impressive record if you are on formula one track and you are Lewis Hamilton but here we have rules, ” emphasised Tierspoor.
Another worry raised by Tierspoor is the carrying of babies on laps during journeys which poses a hazard in case of emergencies especially when seated in front. “That is the most dangerous. You are not saving that person’s life by doing that. This also applies to children eight years and above. There are affordable booster seats that can be bought to mitigate this,” he said.