Africa-Press – Lesotho. Maseru Urban has recorded the highest number of road accidents during the 2020 festive season. This is according to the “Safety on Road and COVID-19 Awareness Campaign” report.
The Minister of Transport Hon. Tšoeu Mokeretla together with the Minister of Health Hon. Motlatsi Maqelepo had officiated the launch of the campaign late last
year, which was intended to educate the nation on the importance of keeping safe on the road during the festive season, to trace and investigate about
causes of road accidents and also promote the necessary precautions against the spread of Covid-19 infections. The campaign started running on October 19th
2020 and ended January 6th 2021. It covered the three regions of the country being Central, North and South. The
Director of Road Safety Dr Kinini Matthews revealed that the campaign was made a success through the collaboration with road safety officers, department of traffic and transport, military police and
other departments. “We also had support from a company called Executive Transport,” she said. Matthews reported that according to their statistics, from October to December in the
three regions the number of accidents were 951, from which 85 fatalities were recorded and 439 people were injured. She noted that these are very high numbers and they
communicate that Road Safety still needs to apply more effort in terms of preaching about road safety measures. From the gathered statistics, Matthews highlighted that Maseru urban accumulated a high
number of accidents totaling to 560 within three months. “Even many fatalities came from Maseru Urban, we have a record of 21 people who died in car accidents,”
she said. She noted that for the next coming campaigns, they need to shift their focus on areas with high statistics. Matthews also disclosed that the Easter Campaign is
ahead and as soon as the lockdown ends, they need to sit down and go through these statistics and plan on how to reduce the numbers. “What is happening in
Maseru Urban shows a lot of carelessness which we need to eliminate,” she indicated. She emphasized that most of the accidents are caused by drinking while driving, negligence driving and road rage, meaning drivers lack patience
towards each other when driving. She also pointed out that most of Basotho drive imported cars which are always on a high speed. She said those cars are found in most accidents.
In terms of fitness, Matthews attested that most cars driven on Maseru roads are in good conditions and roadworthy, but she cautioned that Basotho need to understand that Lesotho’s roads are curvy. She urged Basotho to corporate in an effort to reduce road accidents.
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