The Motor Vehicle Accident Fund of Namibia (MVA) has called upon women from all walks of life to actively participate in the reduction of road carnage on local roads.
This plea is in line with this year’s commemoration of International Women’s Day under the theme ‘Balance for Better.’
A media statement issued by MVA’s Chief of Corporate Affairs, Surihe Gaomas-Guchu on Thursday said the theme provides for collective direction to guide and incite continuous collective action.
“As nurturers, caregivers and partners, women have an innate ability to bring about positive change in their communities. Our call is for women to use the same caring power to actively and positively influence road safety and driver behaviour throughout Namibia,” she said.
She further said crash statistics recorded by the fund portray a big difference between men and women when it comes to road safety.
According to the statistics, men are far more likely to lose their lives or be injured in motor vehicle accidents than women.
“In 2018, 3 562 men sustained various degrees of injuries while 205 lost their lives, whereas 2 056 women were injured and 158 succumbed to motor vehicle crashes during the same period,” Gaomas-Guchu said.
She added that even though the call is on women to come on board, road safety is an issue that impacts everyone, whether directly or indirectly.
“We need to stand united as we strive towards creating safer roads… All you need to do is be cognisant of best driving behaviours and adjust accordingly,” she said.