The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport Infrastructure and Housing has called for collective responsibility in reducing the rising accidents on the country's roads.
The committee chairperson, MP George !Garab, made the call during a public hearing that deliberated the motion on road accidents.
The public hearing, held in Keetmanshoop in efforts to prevent the surge in road accidents, sought evidence-based inputs from stakeholders in the ||Kharas Region.
"We must embrace the principles of the safe systems approach, which recognises that human beings make mistakes and that our transport systems must therefore be designed, managed and regulated in a manner that prevents those mistakes from resulting in death and serious injuries. The safe systems approach calls upon us to address the interaction between all elements of road safety."
!Garab underscored that the safe system approach requires cross-cutting collaboration among all road safety stakeholders as well.
The public hearing participants highlighted fatigue, speeding, driving under the influence of liquor and driver behaviour as major contributing factors to road accidents.
"Namibia is or was considered one of the countries of good roads, but I think potholes, if you go to other areas, are a main issue."
Truck drivers, some of them are coming from South Africa, others are coming as far as Angola, and those guys are driving loads. Some of them are being paid by how many loads you can bring. And these are some of the things we saw and experienced; these drivers didn't rest well."
"There are cases whereby we are told by drivers that they have to proceed because the next morning the person is expected to offload the goods at the next destination. So, it also has to do with the company forcing drivers to drive, even if they are not resting."
"Drugs are also contributing factors; we cannot detect it. So, we want the assistance; that is, we must get some device that can detect drugs in the breath, like we do with alcohol."
Statistics show 23 road crashes were recorded in the ||Kharas Region this year, compared to 18 in 2025.
Injuries sustained this year stood at 65 compared to 28 in 2025.
A total number of 10 fatalities were recorded this year, compared to three in 2025.