Lesotho: Evaluation of Road Accident Vital – Public Works Minister

The Minister of Public Works and Transport, Mr. Matjato Moteane says the ministry should conduct an evaluation of road accidents to establish ways to reduce accidents, deaths and injuries.

This, Mr. Moteane said at the press conference held in Maseru with the purpose to give an insight into on-road operations during the 2023 Easter holidays.

He disclosed that the purpose of the press conference was to evaluate the successes and challenges they encountered during the Easter holidays campaign that was between 29 March and 10 April 2023.

He said that the challenges include; high-speed driving, lack of resources like airtime and drunken driving. Also, he added that they however experienced successes like the use of safety belts by drivers.

The Senior Research Officer in the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, Mrs. Mamonyane Taoana gave statistics on road accidents, deaths and injuries in 2017 as 3605 while in 2022 was 3613.

The Public Instructor, Mrs. Makhabane Lebesa talked about statistics on operations findings during the 2023 Easter Holidays, saying accidents, deaths and injuries were 180.

The 2023 Easter operations were on safety belt usage, car inspections and overspeeding.

The ministry has recommended Insurance companies work together with the Road Safety department, as this will boost the effectiveness of the campaigns. An increase in sport fine devices can improve the provision of sport fines and public education on the importance of cooperation during road safety campaigns and daily road traffic checkpoints is crucial.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Government of Lesotho.