The Motor Vehicle Accident Fund (MVA) has indicated that people aged between 16 and 35 years represent the largest group of people who lost their lives in road accidents in 2020.

The MVA in its 2020 Road Crash and Claims Report availed to the media on Wednesday, revealed that younger people who perished on Namibian roads in the period under review represented 39 per cent of accident victims. A similar pattern was observed in 2019, where they also represented 39 per cent of fatalities.

The report said children under 15 years old were also impacted, accounting for 14 per cent of people who lost their lives in road accidents.

In the same report, MVA indicated that road accidents have become one of the leading causes of death in Namibia and remain a concern.

Although the fund recorded a decline of 24 per cent in fatalities in 2020, accidents remain the leading cause of death in Namibia with an average of 632 fatalities recorded per year.

The 2020 statistics further show that the fatality rate was 18 persons per 100 000 persons, which is considerably above the global average fatality rate of 17.4 persons per 100 000 persons.

In 2019, road fatalities increased by five per cent compared to 2018, where there was a significant decline of 26 per cent when compared to 2017.

Although road fatalities occurred throughout the year, it said fatalities were more common between the months of December and March.

With an average of 632 road crash fatalities being recorded per annum since 2016, the Khomas, Otjozondjupa and Oshikoto regions recorded the highest fatalities. From 2016 to 2020, Otjozondjupa recorded the highest number of fatalities at 485, followed by Khomas with 347 and Oshikoto with 301 fatalities.

Source: Namibia Press Agency