Information presented at the symposium shows that MVA has a total database of 182 spinal cord injured claimants spread across the country, 133 being paraplegics while 50 are tetraplegics.
MVA Fund Board Chairperson, Dr Boitumelo Mokgatla explained: “Severe injuries including spinal cord injuries are the highest cost drivers. This is mainly due to their complexity, long length of hospital stays in specialised units, and need for intensive rehabilitation.
They also give rise to other benefits such as enhancements of quality of life, housing modifications, loss of income, and caretaker costs.”
The Department of Road Transport and Safety and the Botswana Police Service (BPS) have for years been hard at work with road safety campaigns, but unfortunately, we as Batswana seem to take issues of road safety very lightly.
There is this common dense logic amongst some drivers that road accidents can never happen to them until that day arrives. Batswana continue to get behind the wheel after drinking but the simple fact is that when one drives a vehicle while intoxicated, one is not only putting one's life at risk but is also risking the lives of other road users as well.
Well are the very people who complain about lack of or slow development in our country, but we take other issues lightly, for instance, how much our actions behind the wheel can cost government.
Mokgatla, during the symposium, further explained that Traumatic Spinal Cord Injuries (TSCI) have a considerable impact in terms of mortality and quality of life and represent a relevant burden for the healthcare system due to the expensive and complex medical support required by patients.
Sadly, statistics show that it is mostly the youth who end up having to either alter their lives and learn to live with a disability or end up with what could have become a bright future being cut short in fatal accidents.
We have to take responsibility to make sure that we put our safety first. Relevant authorities can organise all the safety campaigns you can think of, but if we as drivers do not take responsibility and adopt methods and measures aimed at reducing the risk of getting into an accident, then their effort is all for nought.
We have the ‘Don’t Drink and Drive’ billboards across the country, but some drivers continue to guzzle behind the wheel and some read it out loud while at it. A re itsoseng! Let's all buy into the idea of arriving alive!
