Road safety a necessity

With escalating accidents being the order of the day, more than 60 participants from industry and the profession took part in a workshop held by the National Road Safety Council (NRSC) and Namibian-German Centre for Logistics (NGCL) earlier in July.
The Workshop theme was, ‘Road Safety in Namibia’, a pressing issue that is in dire need of being discussed and requires much more attention in the country.
The focus of the Workshop was on actions that have already been taken to improve safety over the last decade in Namibia, as well as looking forward to what can still be improved.
The formal session was opened by Ambrosius Tierspoor who emphasised the importance of the topic before introducing the main speakers Eugene Tendekule (NSRC) and Professor Chris Savage (NGCL).
The speakers’ presentations were followed by a lively panel discussion for which they were joined by Dr. Tangeni Iiyambo (UNAM).
Neville Mbai, Director of the NGCL said;“Every day we read of the carnage on the road and if we can just raise awareness with this workshop and perhaps make people think about road safety, then the workshop will have been worthwhile.”

Tendekule of NRSC echoed the same sentiments and said, ‘road safety is not an option, it’s a necessity and the sooner we can make people and society aware of this at all levels, including industry-sectors, the sooner we will be able to lower the horrific death-rates on our Namibian roads.”
Said at the session,“The horrifying statistics of the year on year fatalities and casualties on the on the road make it imperative that something is done. As the NRSC and NGCL are both firmly committed to assisting in bringing down the number of accidents and incidents on the road, the workshop is a good way of spreading that message.”
“Trucks, vans, cars and every other mode of transportation can and are used in the Logistics supply chain. Therefore not only does the Logistics and transportation sector have a huge part to play in keeping Namibian roads safe, but road traffic accidents have the potential to cause major disruptions in the country’s supply chains,” they added.