Coast records low holiday death toll

A ROAD accident that claimed the lives of three men at the coast last weekend brought the number of deaths on coastal roads during the past holiday season to five.

Only one person died on coastal roads during the previous festive season. A bakkie with eight occupants overturned near the Rooikop military base on the road between Walvis Bay and Solitaire around 19h40 on last Sunday.The accident was presumably caused by a burst tyre.Two members of the Defence Force and one civilian sustained serious head injuries and bone fractures.One man died after arrival at the Walvis Bay State Hospital.Another was taken to the Welwitschia Hospital in Walvis Bay, from where he was flown to the Windhoek Central Hospital for treatment by a specialist.He died shortly afterwards.The other injured man was taken to the Walvis Bay State Hospital before being transported by ambulance to the Windhoek State Hospital, where he died.The remaining five passengers only suffered minor injuries.International SOS’s West Coast Safety Initiative ran from December 9 to January 9.During that time, ISOS emergency personnel travelled 22 305 kilometres in five emergency vehicles to respond to 87 emergencies.They tended to 60 injuries caused by road accidents (ten per cent more than last year), five incidents involving quad bikes (20 per cent more than last year) and one motorcycle accident (50 per cent less than the previous season).Domestic accidents, assaults, near-drownings and accidents involving pedestrians showed a marked decrease.Aubrey Oosthuizen, co-ordinator of the West Coast Safety Initiative, considered this year’s campaign a success.He ascribed the increase in road fatalities and injuries to the fact that there were between six and eight passengers in the few vehicles involved in accidents.Four car accidents involved 29 passengers.This year the campaign also lasted five days longer than the previous year.A bakkie with eight occupants overturned near the Rooikop military base on the road between Walvis Bay and Solitaire around 19h40 on last Sunday.The accident was presumably caused by a burst tyre.Two members of the Defence Force and one civilian sustained serious head injuries and bone fractures.One man died after arrival at the Walvis Bay State Hospital.Another was taken to the Welwitschia Hospital in Walvis Bay, from where he was flown to the Windhoek Central Hospital for treatment by a specialist.He died shortly afterwards.The other injured man was taken to the Walvis Bay State Hospital before being transported by ambulance to the Windhoek State Hospital, where he died.The remaining five passengers only suffered minor injuries.International SOS’s West Coast Safety Initiative ran from December 9 to January 9.During that time, ISOS emergency personnel travelled 22 305 kilometres in five emergency vehicles to respond to 87 emergencies.They tended to 60 injuries caused by road accidents (ten per cent more than last year), five incidents involving quad bikes (20 per cent more than last year) and one motorcycle accident (50 per cent less than the previous season).Domestic accidents, assaults, near-drownings and accidents involving pedestrians showed a marked decrease.Aubrey Oosthuizen, co-ordinator of the West Coast Safety Initiative, considered this year’s campaign a success.He ascribed the increase in road fatalities and injuries to the fact that there were between six and eight passengers in the few vehicles involved in accidents.Four car accidents involved 29 passengers.This year the campaign also lasted five days longer than the previous year.