By Joe-Chintha Garises
KEETMANSHOOP, 13 April – The //Karas regional governor, Aletha Frederick, has cautioned motorists to be responsible road users emphasizing that improved road safety is a collective effort, and called on all drivers to ensure that their vehicles are fit to be used on the road.
“Therefore, we must take extra care this time around when entering areas affected by locust by ensuring that we decrease speed and proceed with caution in the affected areas,” she said at launch of the Easter weekend operation at Keetmanshoop on Wednesday.
She also urged the passengers to play their role stating that, “we should know as passengers also that driven around by our drivers, we should also know our role”.
Frederick stressed that the police officers should make use of roadblocks to inspect the fitness of both the drivers and vehicles.
The operation is scheduled to run from 13 to 18 April and aims for the Namibian Police Law Enforcement Division to monitor the fitness of motor vehicles and drivers, loads on motor vehicles., adherence to wearing of seat belts, moving violations, and domestic/stray animals.
During the launch, the deputy executive director of the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform, Miltred Kambinda, urged the public at large not to touch the brown locust as they have been sprayed with poison.
She said: “Locust swarms continue to plague the region, they impaired vision on the roads in affected areas, the crushed insects make road surfaces slippery and it can cause fatal road accidents as we have witnessed recently”.
In her final remarks the Governor Frederick said she was looking forward to having an incident-free 2022 Easter long weekend.
“And I wish all road users a safe return to their respective places at the end of the holiday”. – Namibia Daily News
