WINDHOEK – A total of 490 teachers and 93 teacher trainers received training countrywide on road safety, through an initiative by the National Road Safety Council (NRSC) to have road safety incorporated in the formal school curriculum as from next year.
According to NRSC Director Eugene Tendekule, the proposed integration will cover all grades from 1 to 12 and will thereafter move on to include tertiary level, especially teacher training programmes.

“The National Road Safety Council together with its stakeholders has put in place mechanisms through which road safety can be enhanced. These mechanisms include, among others, the long-term road safety strategy commonly known as the Namibian Chapter of Decade of Action for Road Safety, road watch, ongoing road blocks and the creation of regional road safety forums in all 13 regions,” he said.

 “Up until the 12th of September this year alone, the number of crashes reported were 3 192, while 370 lives were lost on our roads and injuries sustained were 3 770,” said Eliphas Rukambe, Motor Vehicle Accident Fund (MVA) Manager: Public Education
He noted that the region with the highest reported accidents is Khomas, which is followed by the Erongo Region and then Otjozondjupa Region.

“The age groups of 6 years to 10 years have been high in numbers involved in motor accidents and we also know that people aged 18 to 36 are those who obtained their licenses recently, with some speeding and not obeying road signs.
“There is also drunk-driving and texting while driving, which are also contributing factors to the high number of accidents,” he said.
He said that trained teachers can make use of the information and knowledge they have acquired to teach learners about the dangers and safety measures when on the road.

“We are trying to teach them the right way to do things, especially the attitude and behaviour, and with the training of teachers, we can focus on young minds who are going to be future roads users,” he added.