Road safety is our responsibility It is that time of the year again when many travel long distances to enjoy the holiday festivities with their loved ones. The festive season has seemingly already started for some, while many other holidaymakers are still packing in anticipation of taking a well-deserved rest and time off from work.
Unfortunately this is also the time when our roads are congested with traffic.
Typically during the festive season, lots of accidents are reported by the authorities, despite new and existing road safety campaigns.
Obviously, the importance of road safety cannot be overemphasised and it is the responsibility of every road user to ensure that they are conforming to the traffic laws.
The law enforcement agencies as well as other role-players like the National Road Safety Council of Namibia, the Ministry of Works and Transport and the Motor Vehicle Accident (MVA) Fund, among others, have rightly so, placed road safety at the forefront of the transport agenda.
The police have specifically cautioned road users to be extra vigilant at blind spots and be on the lookout for animals, especially when travelling at night. According to the Namibian Police traffic boss Deputy Commissioner Ralph Ludwig, there are about 33 units consisting of a total of 300 traffic officers that will be patrolling the national roads this festive season.
The B1 and B2 roads are considered to be the most dangerous, owing to the high volume of accidents on these roads.
However, enough is enough now and every Namibian, especially motorists, must help end this highly disturbing trend and appalling road accident toll.
A significant change of mindset will certainly go a long way in making our roads safer.
We may have hundreds of police officers manning roadblocks, but if motorists don''t take the responsibility of driving more cautiously and adhering to the law, we are in no way going to succeed in our efforts to ensure road safety.
This issue calls for a multi-sectoral approach, which should be everyone''s responsibility.
At the end of the day, drivers must take responsibility for their actions.