Region Three drivers agreed to establish a Road Safety Council and to conduct lectures on road safety in schools and communities, at a meeting with Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee on Sunday as part of the ministry’s programme to encourage citizen participation in road safety.
Rohee engaged drivers on the West Coast at the Uitvlugt Secondary School and on the West Bank at the Toevlugt/Patentia Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) building at Goed Intent, a press release from the Government Information Agency (GINA) said.
“This meeting is to meet with you, to talk around the issue, to get ideas from you and at the same time solicit your involvement,” Rohee told the gathering. He also noted that road safety is not only the concern of the police force or the National Road Safety Council, but of every citizen. “We don’t have enough police ranks and it is in recognition of this fact that we are seeking to make a more vibrant and geographically expansive national road safety policy,” he added, noting that some persons only become conscious about road safety when their loved one is a road casualty.
In addition, Region Three Regional Chairman Julius Faerber said the meeting was timely as the new school year started on Monday. He cautioned drivers that they would see “quite a lot of movement on the road” and he urged them to “Be more vigilant, more cautious on the road and look out for children who use the road carelessly.” Faerber also told the drivers that cooperation is needed to limit the number of road fatalities.
The drivers made several suggestions including the need for undercover cops in unmarked vehicles to regulate traffic infractions more effectively and enforcing the speed and weight limit for trucks. They also said tractors must remove their caged wheels before driving on the roads. Drivers also asked that cops issue tickets instead of confining vehicles for traffic infringements.
