The National Road Safety Council (NRSC) will transform the Arandis Emergency Response and Traffic Management Centre during this financial year.
This was announced by the Chairperson of the NRSC Eliphas !Owos-oab during the 20th anniversary of the Trans Kalahari Corridor Secretariat in Swakopmund.
Fifteen cameras have been installed on the B2 road from Usakos to Swakopmund to monitor motorists' behaviour and road activities.
!Owos-oab says with this installation, the Arandis Emergency Response and Traffic Management Centre seeks to address the high number of road accidents along this stretch of highway.
He says the strategic objective of the initiative is to facilitate the implementation of the Intelligent Transport System, which is aimed at enhancing efficiency and the user-friendliness of the Trans Kalahari Corridor while reducing road crashes.
"We firmly believe that the corridors in the not-too-distant future will be characterised by increased traffic volumes that may lead to undesirable challenges like inconsiderate driving and the speeding of an unmanaged mix of authorised and unauthorised users. By targeting these corridors, national and regional entities have an opportunity to make rapid progress in straightening road management capacity and to quickly improve performance."
He added that the International Road Assessment Report indicates that 10% of casualties occur on the road networks.
"So if we make that 10% of road networks safer, we will certainly achieve 50% of the reduction in associated casualties. Having this in mind, the National Road Safety Council took a deliberate decision to invest in initiatives made to improve and transform the country's transport corridors into special economic corridors for the benefit of both users and communities along the corridors."
The manager at Arandis Emergency Response and Traffic Management Centre, Allu Hailonga, says the cameras have also been useful in tracing criminals.
The poles are connected to Wi-Fi and send all the information they pick up to the server room, where it can be viewed.
Launched about a year ago, the initiative is spearheaded by the National Road Safety Council, the Arandis Town Council, and the Erongo Regional Council.