Keep animals off roads

Animal-related road accidents have resulted in 13 people being killed and 265 people sustaining varying degrees of injury in 140 crashes last year. The Otjozondjupa Region was the bloodiest, recording the highest number of animal-related crashes (42), followed by Oshikoto (17) and Hardap (13) last year. The Motor Vehicle Accident (MVA) Fund has urged farmers to keep domestic animals off public roads, take control of their farming activities by instituting an absolute search when livestock go missing, and herd their livestock during the day and keep them in the kraal at night.Commercial farmers are advised to carry out periodical inspections of fencing to ensure that animals do not stray from the grazing fields.This follows after various road safety partners - including the MVA Fund - earlier this year held discussions pertaining to road safety impediments along the Trans-Kalahari Corridor, the A1 and A2 routes. A prominent aspect that came to the fore was the presence of stray domestic animals on road reserves, prompting the MVA Fund to engage the Witvlei community in July this year on ways to control stray animals to reduce their involvement in road crashes. Following suit, the Maltahöhe Farmer's Association in Hardap and the Omutsegwonime community in Oshikoto Region were engaged by the Fund recently.According to the Fund, the communities expressed various challenges with regard to controlling their livestock. These include a lack of impounding kraals in the corridors to keep stray animals safe and off the roads, a lack of financial resources to rehabilitate border fences that collapse due to wear and tear, and lack of knowledge on how to administer Section 348 of the Road Traffic and Transport Regulations of 2001. The regulation states that “a person may not leave or allow any bovine animal, horse, ass, mule, sheep, goat, pig or ostrich to be on any section of a public road where that section is fenced or in any other manner closed along both sides.”The regulations further state that a person may not leave the animal in a place from where it may stray onto that section of a public road unless such animal is being ridden or used to draw a vehicle along a public road, or is being driven from one place to another in such a manner as not to constitute a source of danger or injury to any person or vehicle using the road. In instances where animals referred to above are driven along a public road during the period of sunset to sunrise, the owner or herder needs to a carry a red light for visibility. During any other period of the day, the person driving animals must display a red flag in a conspicuous manner.The Fund further called upon all drivers to exercise extra vigilance especially during the dry season when animals are more likely to be close to the roads looking for greener pastures and when driving in areas with high volumes of wildlife. Motorists should further be attentive to road warning signs and adjust accordingly. Additionally, speed reduction especially at night and when driving in an unfamiliar environment will critically help reduce motor vehicle crashes especially with stray animals. Other effortsA new pilot project allows people to send a photo via WhatsApp of the identifying NamLITS tags, which all livestock are required by law to wear.The project was launched recently by the Joint Crime Prevention Forum. The initiative is supported by Kosmos 94.1 radio station, with sponsorship from NamAgri, and is taking place in collaboration with the police and other relevant authorities.NamAgri's Alex McDonald said the project was aimed at clearing the road reserves of livestock in order to reduce the risk of accidents.Once a photo is received via the toll-free WhatsApp number, 081 765 5636, a team starts the work of tracing and contacting the owner of the animal.McDonald said the project was in its infancy and more publicity would follow to ensure all Namibians could take part. He confirmed that at least one police station had joined the project.He said animals in road reserves were a bigger problem than people realised. ELLANIE SMIT

Keep animals off roads

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Namibian Sun 2024-11-26

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Keep animals off roads

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Namibian Sun 2024-11-26

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