Drivers' attitudes remain a concern
Pini Bothoko | Friday July 24, 2020 18:32
The concerns were raised by the Director of Traffic, Senior Assistant Commissioner, Katlholo Mosimanegape in an interview with Mmegi. He stated that most of the road accidents are due to bad attitude by motorists.
Mosimanegape said they do sensitise motorists on road safety during road campaigns, but it is important that people change their behaviour on roads.
He revealed that in the just ended President’s Day holiday’s police recorded three fatal accidents that resulted in three deaths.
“From July 17th to July 22 we have recorded 186 general accidents as compared to 228 accidents during the same period last year.
The first fatal accident in which a life was lost occurred on Friday around one at night at Dutwe village followed by yet another one that occurred on Saturday by Bull and Bush traffic lights around 5am. The last one occurred on Sunday along Ramotswa main road around 8 at night,” Mosimanegape disclosed.
Last year during the same period four fatal accidents were recorded that led to four deaths. The Commissioner said these holidays 5, 234 drivers were charged for various offences as compared to 6, 286 charged during the same period last year.
Mosimanegape further stated that 257 drivers were tested for alcohol consumption, of whom 186 were charged with driving under the influence of alcohol. He said during the same period last year, 447 drivers were tested and 270 of them were found driving under the influence of alcohol.
The traffic boss further stated that 1, 038 drivers were charged with over speeding as compared to 1, 586 during the same period last year.
“Speed limits are not obeyed and road signs continue to be ignored. Some of the accidents could be easily avoided if road users could exercise patience and pay more attention to road traffic signs and regulations. 724 people were charged for driving without their licences as compared to 612 during the same period last year. ,” he said.
Commenting on risky behaviours displayed by drivers that increase their exposure to road accidents and mortality rate, Mosimanegape singled out speeding as the leading cause factor, noting that young drivers like to compete on the road and overtake unnecessarily.
He said fatal accidents have been the country’s major problem and were the leading cause of death amongst citizens especially the youth. He however stated that COVID-19 restrictions might have contributed a lot to the reduction in accidents because they were quite minimal during the period.
For instance, he said that even though a number of people traveled to different destinations it appears that majority of people did not travel as usual during these holidays. He said there were incidents of driving under the influence of alcohol but the numbers were not that bad stating that the new operating hours might have contributed to the reduction. “This shows that if people could change their old ways of doing things like drinking alcohol the whole night and then driving from one place to another we could save lives.
The new normal should teach us a lot of things like considering drinking home even without COVID-19. We can prevent road accidents when motorists are cautious and exercise patience on the roads at all times,” Mosimanegape said.