All roads lead to a safer second half

In their battle to reduce the notorious Namibian road carnage and to ensure safety on the roads, the National Road Safety Council (NRSC), enters the second half of the year full force with more campaigns lined up. The council wants to bring a more forceful safety message across for the second semester.
“Throughout the year we have laid out the different road safety campaigns that we are to embark on. Each campaign will be driven by a theme related to road safety. These campaigns are slotted for the holidays as well as normal days,” the council said this week.
With reference to the previous campaigns, the council pointed out that their aim for the next phase is to continue with awareness of road safety with the goal of educating and “enforcing safe road practices.”
Up coming events for the second half of the year will include the August long weekend pegged for 22 to 26 August, followed by the 4th Annual Road Safety Conference which will be held from 1 to 3 October.

In the later part of the year the council will also have other campaigns like the Africa Road Safety Week from 10 to 16 November and then finally wrap up the year with their major Festive Season Road Safety Campaign.
The council’s campaigns strongly aim “to implement a culture of self-discipline, to hold oneself accountable, to take responsibility, to adapt and maintain an attitude of a responsible road user.”
“The movement of all campaigns is to emotionally stimulate a positive response towards the nation as whole. It serves to effectively heed and put into practice the running campaigns’ call to action,” they added.
The focus areas of their campaigns tackle the issue of speeding, drunken driving, vulnerable road users (pedestrians, schoool kids, school patrols), driver fitness and vehicle fitness (road worthy vehicles).
During the first half of the year the National Road Safety Council collated and analysed road crash data to identify underlying causes and suggest the necessary remedial interventions to improve the situation.
Successful campaigns that were held in the first half of the year included the Road Safety Road Show, the Back to School Campaign which was held from 31 January to 14 February, the Easter Campaign that was held from 14 to 20 April and the B1 Road Safety Campaign with special focus on the infamous B1 from Okahandja through Otjiwarongo to Otavi.