Traffic Commanders have been encouraged to come up with effective road safety promotion strategies to effectively address the main road safety challenges of speeding, impaired driving, drunk driving and unlicensed driving.

Officiating at the Botswana Police Traffic Commanders’ meeting held in Francistown recently, the Chief Executive Officer of the Motor Vehicle Accident Fund (MVA), Mr Cross Kgosidiile advised the Commanders to intensify road safety education collaborative efforts and road traffic laws enforcement to make Botswana roads safer.

Mr Kgosidiile said with the worrisome road traffic situation in Botswana it was critical that traffic commanders in collaboration with key stakeholders, consistently improve road safety mechanisms to achieve safety for all citizens, especially young drivers, pedestrians and children.

He said the escalating road crashes cannot be left to perpetuate, saying 20 000 road crashes recorded in 2009, resulted in 7965 causalities comprising of 475 deaths and 1535 serious injuries. He however said, a significant improvement was realized between 2009 and 2010 as fatalities dropped from 475 to 397.

He said through collaboration with the Botswana Police Service and the Department of Road Transport and Safety (DRTS), his institution will continue to curb road crashes by educating road users and ensuring strict compliance with traffic laws.