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- 46 road accidents reported since beginning of the year
- Drunken driving account for more crashes
- Use of cellphones while driving also a concern
- Police decry lack of resources to effectively enforce law
Maun streets are increasingly becoming more dangerous, especially during weekends as the number of accidents recorded by police have reached high levels, and the police have put the blame on some drivers who are reckless on the road, especially after drinking alcohol.
Since the beginning of the year, the police have registered 46 road accidents and this high number of road crashes, in a very short period has the police worried.
According to the Maun Police traffic officer, Sub Inspector Tshiamo Sejakgomo, from the statistics there were no fatalities but indicated that six people suffered serious injuries while three had minor ones.
Furthermore, a total of five vehicles collided with objects at rest that is four crashed onto streetlight while one onto a tuck-shop. Sejakgomo revealed that from the statistics a total of 56 male drivers were involved while 24 were women.
According to Sejakgomo, careless driving and drunken driving are usually the common causes of road accidents.
However, of recent they have realized that the drivers’ attitude also highly contributes to the rising accident rates as most of these road users falsely believe they cannot cause accidents. He said it is because of this mentality that road users neglect the traffic rules consequently contributing to increased accidents.
He also voiced his concerns over the rising trend of people using cellphones while driving and warned that such behavior is among the factors that lead to unnecessary car crashes.
He further said that they are doing all in their power to mitigate the situation highlighting that they have patrol cars that move around the village to try and control accidents.
He however acknowledged that because of limited resourced they have only made a few road blocks and speed traps. In addition to their challenges, Sejakgomo noted that there are so many passages and short cuts used by drivers to avoid road block points which he complained makes it difficult for them to apprehend bad driving, unroadworthy vehicles and drunken drivers.
He added that the public also does not take part in helping the police identify culprits, forgetting that they might also fall next victim of possible accidents which they could have helped be avoided from happening. Sejakgomo further complained that some even post on social media alerting other drivers about planted police road blocks.
He has since urged motorists to practice better driving patterns and follow the law to help reduce road accidents. Sejakgomo noted that they will collaborate with other relevant departments to conduct more roadblocks with an aim to instill road safety awareness on road users.
