Mutorwa wants MVA study on causes of accidents in all regions

RUNDU, 01 JUN  – Minister of Roads and Transport, John Mutorwa has asked the Motor Vehicle Accident (MVA) Fund to do a study on the causes of accidents in all 14 regions.
Mutorwa made the request in a statement read on his behalf during the official inauguration of the MVA’s Service Centre in Rundu on Thursday.
“I want to urge the MVA Fund to commence with a study on the causes of crashes… and present such findings to my office for agreeable and workable solutions by the end of August 2018,” he said.
The minister further said Government undertook to explore the concept of universal health coverage as it plays an important role in public health in terms of reducing road traffic fatalities and injuries after the second Global High Level Conference on Road Safety held in Brazil in 2015.
The conference discussed measures needed to achieve the target of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to halve road traffic deaths by the end of the decade.
“As Government, we acknowledge that there is a shared responsibility to move towards a world free from road traffic fatalities and serious injuries, and that addressing road safety demands multi-stakeholder collaboration,” Mutorwa said.
He further said to focus on road users as the only cause of accidents is insufficient as accidents have multiple causes, many of which are linked to social causes and risk factors.
Mutorwa also said he was discouraged by MVA Fund statistics that showed that in 2017, the Kavango East Region accounted for 24 per cent of roll-over accidents.
The statistics also showed that 53 per cent of all accidents that occurred in Kavango East last year were pedestrian related.

NAMPA