The Motor Vehicle Accident (MVA) Fund of Namibia has urged motorists to exercise extra caution around school zones and to create streets in which all road users safely co-exist, including school children, pedestrians and cyclists.

The fund in a statement on Thursday said with the resumption of the second term of the 2021 academic school year, school vicinities are full of children playing close to the roads and hassled motorists rushing to drop off their children before rushing off to work. The commotion and congestion call for increased attention from all motorists using these busy spaces, it said.

MVA Fund Chief of Corporate Affairs, Surihe Gaomas-Guchu in the statement said by reducing the speed limit around school zones to 30 kilometres per hour, “we will build streets for life that are especially safe for vulnerable road users”.

Parents and other caregivers are also urged to familiarise themselves with school drop-off zones and procedures, to prevent injuries and fatalities involving school children.

Gaomas-Guchu noted that as an institution mandated to promote road safety and create safer roads, the MVA Fund is currently running projects aimed at promoting children’s safety as vulnerable road users. It includes the Yellow Dot programme aimed at teaching children to safely embark and disembark on the left rear side of the vehicle, scholar patrols and other road safety activations around schools where children are highly susceptible to road crashes, she said.

The fund also entered into smart partnerships with community members to make journeys to school safe and for sustainable road safety initiatives in the regions.

Additionally, the public is requested to report motor vehicle crashes to the new accident response number, 9682.

Source: Namibia Press Agency