DRTS Deputy Director concerned by fatal road accidents
Deputy Director in the Department of Road Transport and Safety (DRTS), Godwin Tlhogo has expressed concern at the escalating number of people killed in road accidents.
Tlhogo was addressing a stakeholder engagement on sustainable felt management strategies hosted by Frotcom Intelligent Fleets on Wednesday in Gaborone.
“We have a very serious problem of road accidents where we continue to lose many lives. This year already we have lost 390, but yearly we lose between 400 and 500 people,” revealed Tlhogo, adding speed was the main cause of most fatal road accidents.
He noted it was particularly tragic that the youth made up the bulk of the casualty list, which, among other things, affects productivity.
Meanwhile, the DRTS Deputy Director described the transport sector as ‘the backbone of the economy’.
The convention came a day after local public transport operators in Gaborone embarked on a 24-hour strike, leaving commuters stranded at bus stops across the capital.
“It is in light of this that this convention will leave every professional rejuvenated and help them deal with problems strategically,” declared Tlhogo.
Speaking at the convention, Frotcom Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Lindiwe Masuku echoed Tlhogo’s sentiments, noting the economy would be at a standstill without the transport sector.
“This forum has been made to facilitate the skills exchange, and we do this to acknowledge that the transport sector plays a very important role in our economies; in fact, transport is the blood of the economy,” said Masuku.
Frotcom is a global company that specializes in fleet management solutions.
The major cause of accident is not speed. That’s a stained fallacy which it seems will never go away. The number of motor vehicles is more than the available road infrastructure and as long as we continue to believe this speeding lie we are not getting anywhere. Just like the real root-cause of passion killings is left at the feet of man, which is just a symptom, there is still going to be bloodbath.
The amount of money or levies spent by the motorist and the type of road we get at the end of the day is the real number one killer.
First PAYE is a lot of money we pay and we are made to believe this money is for developments, then there is road certificate on every car, then there are about 2 levies we have to pay at the fuel point. Now then that a lot of chains of levies and this is for the average road user. The combi and tax man has other chunks of monies they have to pay for the road, then there is different chunks small trucks to big trucks pay. where is all this monies going as the government is always without money. The same government is slow to pay water bills and electric bills. Where is all our monies going. The fool above cant tell the truth because if he does the blame game changes.
As long as we have unaccountable government that just swindles the stupid electorate, the poor terrible roads are still going to kill us and funny enough, the killing does not spare these fools either but just the too top thieves as they travel by motorcade.