The Motor Vehicle Accident Fund’s (MVA) road safety campaign, Xupifa Eemwenyo, has helped reduce death toll on the country’s roads by 40% since its inception, the Economist heard this week. During the 2006 festive season, 92 deaths were recorded, compared to 67 lives during the 2007 festive season.

According to an MVA board member, Philip Amunyela, during the 2007 festive season alone, 11000 summonses were served for traffic violations, which translate into N$3.2 million.
Amunyela said, although the death toll on national roads has gone down significantly, stakeholders should not become complacent but rather double their efforts to attain zero deaths on national roads.
“Zero deaths on our roads would mean the continued support from all stakeholders involved as you stakeholders play a vital role in saving live,” he said.
Amunyela paid tribute to the Xupifa Eemwenyo initiative for the success accomplished so far, saying the campaign grew in all senses including its sponsors who increased from 36 in 2006 to 83 last year.
Other initiatives that highlight the campaign’s success are the launch of the Traffic Violations Call Centre (222 888), which gave drivers, pedestrians and passengers the opportunity to report blatant traffic offences, non-roadworthy vehicle, bad driving behaviour on the road as well as hazardous locations or situations.
Another initiative that saw the light in the fight against road carnage was the Road Safety Choir consisting of young musicians performing two songs.
Thousands of CDs were distributed to drivers at various roadblocks in the country.