Road safety falls on deaf ears

The issue of road safety cannot be overemphasised in our country. Despite interventions here and there seeking to bring an end to road deaths, it appears road safety messages are falling on deaf ears. Traffic accidents are the leading cause of death in the country and the World Health Organisation has ranked Namibia as one of the countries with the highest number of road deaths per 100 000 citizens. The Motor Vehicle Accident (MVA) Fund is directly impacted by the high death toll on our roads and has really tried to create awareness when it comes to road safety. Other important stakeholders, such as the Namibia Road Safety Council, are unfortunately not visible enough. It has to be said that the dramatic costs of road accidents create a number of difficult consequences for our countrymen and -women. The provision of medical treatment and other healthcare services is also a huge burden on the authorities. In most cases it is the economically productive people aged between 16 and 35 that make up over 40% of the total fatalities. The question remains - are we doing enough to keep people safe on our roads? Are our road safety campaigns effective? The fatality rate on our roads suggests we have a long way to go. Road safety is everybody's responsibility. Although agencies such as the MVA Fund and the National Road Safety Council are expected take their in-house responsibility to road safety very seriously, each and every road user also has a moral obligation to help improve road safety. Perhaps it is also time that we re-evaluate our road safety strategies. Road safety interventions must make travel safer and should be helpful in effecting change. We all can contribute in many ways to arrest the status quo. Our attitude on the road stinks and it is incumbent upon us to practice better driving patterns and follow the law so that we do not become part of the statistics. We must at all times observe speed limits, while being considerate to other equally important road users.