Life or death on Namibia’s roads

On average 56 people have died every month since January on Namibian roads, mainly due to reckless driving and ignoring traffic regulations.
Over the Heroes’ Day long weekend, eight people died and 154 people sustained injuries in 59 crashes.
The Motor Vehicle Accident (MVA) Fund’s weekend statistics show that in comparison to last year’s Heroes’ Day weekend, there were fewer crashes and injuries, but the number of fatalities was higher.
Car crashes are one of the major causes of death in the country, and Namibia is ranked as one of the countries with the highest number of car crashes on the continent.
A recent Legal Assistance Centre (LAC) report showed that we rank above the regional average and far above the global average, based on World Health Organisation statistics. The LAC quoted a 2014 study, conducted by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa on the implementation of the Africa road safety action plan, in which Namibia scored below average in all categories.
The recently released MVA Fund accident report stated that “mass casualties remain a daunting concern to all of us as the risk of losing more lives is higher where five or more people are involved in a crash and especially if they are not travelling safely.”
The past weekend recorded ten mass accidents, in which 90 people were injured and five died.
To date this year, the death toll has reached close to 450 people, with 4 444 people injured in 2 600 crashes, according to the Fund’s crash statistics.
The Fund says most of the recorded crashes this year were a result of roll-overs, followed by collisions and pedestrian-related accidents.
MVA records going back at least seven years show that on average 600 to 700 people die on Namibian roads.
The majority of accidents are linked to reckless drivers ignoring traffic regulations.
Despite several initiatives implemented by road-safety organisations, the number of crashes continues to rise every year.
However, on a smaller scale, the MVA Fund this week said that comparing statistics to the same period in 2015, it is “evident that crashes and injuries have slightly decreased while fatalities have increased. Even though the reduction is not significant, it is somehow a noble indication that all efforts … have not been in vain.”
In 2015, 702 people died compared to 676 recorded the previous year. Last year, a total of 4 210 crashes were recorded, which left 7 333 with various degrees of injuries.
Research has found that Namibia far exceeds the African continental average of 26.6 fatalities per 100 000 persons, with a record high of 33.2 per 100 000 persons recorded in 2015.
“The costs of this high rate of road accidents extends far beyond the families and communities of those directly affected and are ultimately borne by wider society and government,” wrote the authors of the ‘Proposals for Enhancing Road Safety in Namibia’, published by the LAC in May this year.
“Hundreds of millions of Namibian dollars are spent each year in the aftermath of road accidents and the total figure has been estimated to equate to a staggering 3% of annual GDP,” according to a report released in 2015 by the National Road Safety Council.
“Because the majority of road deaths affect individuals between the ages of 21 and 45, employers can suffer a considerable loss of productivity while insurance companies are burdened with high pay-outs in compensation for lives lost.”

JANA-MARI SMITH