The initiative is welcome and we hope that many lives will be saved. We are therefore hopeful that the MVA will find funds to erect billboards, or road signs that warn motorists in bold red letters that they are entering hot spots and need to drive with extreme caution. Recent studies have shown that one of the main causes of road accidents in our country is the tendency by motorists to ignore road signs, speed limits and markings. There are those instances where motorists opt to overtake along a solid line when it is illegal to do so. We hope that with large billboards erected at all dangerous curves stretching for over 200m, or hot-spots warning motorists, Botswana will definitely achieve the desired results within a reasonable period of time. Meanwhile, government departments dealing with issues of national security should emulate the MVA and come up with similar interventions. For instance, there are crime hot-spots in Gaborone, Francistown, Selebi-Phikwe and other major towns and members of the public should be warned about. We have reported about dangerous spots such as traffic lights, bushes, and unlit passages. Authorities must bear in mind that everyday there are people who may be visiting the city for the first time, locals or expatriates, who need to be warned about their security while walking or driving through such places.
Of course, we appreciate that there are already interventions such as the Botswana Police Itshireletse TV programme, which is aired very Sunday evening. Though the programme educates people about desisting from walking in bushes alone during the day and at night, not all of us have TV sets in our homes. Billboards or just signboards should be erected warning everyone as they enter such areas. One example is a billboard erected near the Livingstone site at Kolobeng River, which warns members of the public about the dangers they may face in the area. Unfortunately, the criminals vandalised the billboard, thus reversing Botswana Police efforts to alert the traveller. Sadly, the police took ages to replace the board, which definitely served the public well. As the police grapple with the rising crime wave, we call upon government to assist by erecting floodlights in crime ridden places like Mogoditshane, Tlokweng, Gaborone West, Broadhurst, Old Naledi, Block 8 and various towns throughout the country. This is being done in Mbabane, Swaziland, where floodlights are erected in high-density areas. This, if done here, will help reduce the workload because authorities in our country are failing to repair streetlights, some of which have not been functioning for years. With new brains, such as those engaged at MVA, this country can move forward and achieve Vision 2016 goals of a safe and secure nation.
