Martin Endjala
The Ministry of Works and Transport, John Mutorwa, says that road safety is meant to change the behaviour of road users and that progress made so far to make it so should not be allowed to regress.
It is for this very reason that he has committed to ensuring that road safety in the country is of the highest order and not to turn Namibia’s roads into a killing zone.
“As long as I am here, we will continue making progress as we carry on the work already done by my previous colleague for the sake of making sure that roads are safe,” he said.
The Minister made the statement in Otjiwarango during the 8th Annual Road Safety Conference of the National Road Safety Council held on Monday which will. The conference will end today.
The Minister stressed that there is a tendency of people who get appointed into leadership roles, with a mindset of always starting fresh, saying that this thinking is the exact opposite of progress because the intended result is never reached.
Mutorwa was talking in relation to the decade strategy of the National Road Safety Council which was first adopted in 2011-2012, where what was envisaged, did not materialise due to a lack of seeing the implementations through by not carrying on with what has already been done.
He maintained that such exercises should draw valuable lessons and the need to set interim goals, which must be achieved every year, towards the main goal which is to achieve zero fatalities on the roads.
Stakeholders and institutions involved in the management of road safety, are urged to stock and account for tasks assigned to them at their conference convergent to enable informed decisions on the way forward as the country continues to strive for zero fatalities on its roads.
In addition to this, these will also help expand the national roads, because roads connect people, and unify social, cultural and economic mobility.
Meanwhile, the National Road Safety Council Chairman Eliphas !Owos-Oab reiterated that the decade strategy which is slated for 2025 submission at the upcoming United Nations Convention on Road Safety is the only blueprint strategy and law which Namibia has adopted since 1990, supported by the Works and Transport Ministry and sectioned by Cabinet.
Where all activities of road safety are aligned with, efforts to halt the death toll by 2030 and since Namibia is an active participant in global road safety in the Africa Charter, Namibia has rectified its decade strategy to ensure that all the strategies are implemented.
Moreover, the National Road Safety Council Executive Secretary Eugen Tendekule says this has been amplified in the decade strategy, with the main focus on injury crushes per 100 000 population serious injuries and fatalities.
Based on recent data, 44 people died on Namibian roads during the 2022/23 festive season compared to 98 recorded in 2021/22. Compared to 2021/22.
Crashes declined by 15.2 percent, injuries declined by 15 percent and fatalities declined by 45 percent respectively.
