AND CLAIMS REPORT - MVA FUND

1MVA FUND | 2015 ROAD CRASH AND CLAIMS REPORT

ROAD CRASHAND CLAIMS REPORT 2015

2 MVA FUND | 2015 ROAD CRASH AND CLAIMS REPORT


ABOUT US

The Motor Vehicle Accident Fund of Namibia is statutorily mandated to design, promote and implement crash and

injury prevention measures. It provides assistance and benefits to all people injured and the dependants of those killed in motor vehicle crashes in accordance with the MVA Fund Act No.10 of 2007.

The Fund operates on a hybrid based system where all people injured in motor vehicle crashes, regardless of who caused the crash, receive fair and reasonable benefits (subject to some limitations and exclusions) - where payments

are done in accordance with administrative law principles.

Historically, the Fund was established in 1991, in terms of Act 30 of 1990, shortly after independence, to compensate people injured in motor vehicle crashes or the dependants of people killed in such crashes. It was then a “fault- based”

system where compensation was paid as a result of negligence or any other unlawful act on the part of the driver.

VISIONSupporting your journey to independence.

MISSIONTo empower our customers through tailored injury prevention

programs and support for their return to meaningful life.

VALUESPassion | Excellence | Teamwork | Integrity

EDITORIAL INPUTThe MVA Fund wishes to acknowledge the input of Associate Professor Michael Fitzharris

and Research Fellow Dr. Amanda Stephens of the Monash University Accident Research Centre for providing editorial input for this report.


Section 1: Background 5

Section 2: Crashes 7

Section 3: Injuries 18

Section 4: Fatalities 27

Section 5: Pedestrian Crashes 36

Section 6: Roll-Over Crashes 44

Section 7: MVA Fund Benefit Claims 48

Section 8: Public Education, Accident And Injury Prevention 55

Programmes And Festive Season Road Safety Campaign 2015/16

Section 9: Summary 56

Section 10: Recommendations 57

Page

TABLE OF CONTENTS


Section 1: Background 5

Section 2: Crashes 7

Section 3: Injuries 18

Section 4: Fatalities 27

Section 5: Pedestrian Crashes 36

Section 6: Roll-Over Crashes 44

Section 7: MVA Fund Benefit Claims 48

Section 8: Public Education, Accident And Injury Prevention 55

Programmes And Festive Season Road Safety Campaign 2015/16

Section 9: Summary 56

Section 10: Recommendations 57

Page

SECTION 1: BACKGROUND1.1 INTRODUCTIONRoad traffic injuries and fatalities remain a central public health problem worldwide and an increasing developmental concern, despite efforts to reduce road crashes. Namibia is faced with the reality of an increase in the number of motor vehicle crashes, deaths and injuries. This report provides a statistical overview of the scope of road crashes in Namibia in 2015.

At global level, the World Health Organization (WHO, 2015) estimates that approximately 1.25 million people die every year in road crashes and another 20 to 50 million sustain injuries as a result of road traffic crashes. Of great concern is the high number of young people affected by road crashes. The World Health Organization further states that road traffic crashes are a leading cause of death among young people, and the main cause of death among those aged 15–29 years (WHO, 2015). Furthermore, almost half of all deaths on the world’s roads are road users with the least protection – motorcyclists, cyclists and pedestrians. Road traffic injuries place a heavy burden on national economies as well as on households.

In 2009, member countries of the United Nations ratified the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020, with the objective of stabilizing and then reducing the number of road crashes by 2020. The UN Road Safety Collaboration developed a Global Plan for the Decade of Action (DoA) for Road Safety 2011-2020 to fulfill the goals of the UN resolution. Namibia signed up and aligned its road safety undertakings to the objectives of the DoA in May 2011. 16

The aim of this report is to document and monitor road crash trends in Namibia. The findings of this report can be used to guide strategic decision making processes of the MVA Fund and other stakeholders in the road safety fraternity in order to instill a culture of evidence-based interventions. The report can further be used as a basis for historical crash data.

1.2 DATA COLLECTION METHODSThe main source of data is the MVA Fund Call Centre, where crashes are reported, through the toll-free Accident Response Number 0819682. Information collected and recorded by the Call Centre is verified with the Namibian Police, Emergency Medical Rescue Services - Paramedics and Health Officials from public and private hospitals throughout the country.

The Fund adopted the WHO’s method of recording road deaths since 2009, aligning to its standard definition of road fatality as “any person killed immediately or dying within 30 days as a result of a road crash” (WHO, 2013). Aligning the country’s crash statistics to an international standard of reporting, allows comparability with other countries. It should be noted that the MVA Fund only records statistics from crashes that resulted in injuries and / or fatalities. In essence, all crashes that resulted in property damage only are duly excluded in the data presented in this report. The data presented in this report are stored on the MVA Fund crash and claim management system and analyzed using Microsoft Excel software.

1.3 OBJECTIVESThe objectives of this report are twofold:

- To provide a comprehensive comparison of injury related road traffic crashes in Namibia for the years 2014 and 2015.

- To provide an in-depth analysis of the MVA Fund claims data for the year 2015.


BACKGROUND1.4 QUICK FACTS ABOUT THE 2014 AND 2015 CRASH STATISTICS

† Population (vehicles), Roads Authority – Vehicle Statistics, December 2015

‡ Population (persons) Namibia Population & Housing Census Report 2011


SECTION 2: CRASHES2.1 INTRODUCTIONThis section provides an analysis of the recorded road crashes for the year 2015 in comparison to 2014. The analysis will consider crash trends over the past five years, crashes per month and region, the types of crashes as well as the distribution of crashes by day of the week and time of day. Another crucial analysis of this section is the analysis of the information about vehicles that were involved in crashes.

2.2 ANNUAL CRASHESThe recorded road crash statistics indicate an increase in the number of traffic crashes. As can be seen from Figure 1, there is an increasing trend of road crashes in Namibia. The number of recorded road crashes increased by 22% from 2011 to 2012 and then reduced during the year 2013 by 2% in comparison to 2012. An increase was again recorded (16%) from 2013 to 2014 and a further 4% from 2014 to 2015. Overall, the statistics indicate an average of 3637 crashes recorded annually.

2.3 CRASHES PER MONTHRoad crashes occur during all months of the year. In 2015, an average of 351 crashes were recorded per month in Namibia. Most of these crashes were recorded during those months with public holidays such as March, May, August and December, each with more than 8.5%, of the total crashes.

4500

4000

3500

3000

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

02011 2012 2013 2014 2015

2902

35473484

40384212

FIGURE 1: ROAD CRASH TREND: 2011-2015


CRASHESTable 2 further shows that fewer crashes were recorded during February, with 7% of the total annual crash record.

2.4 CRASHES PER REGIONFigure 2 shows the distribution of the recorded crashes per region for the years 2014 and 2015. The five regions with the highest number of crashes remained the same for both years. As indicated below, for 2015, most of the crashes were recorded in the Khomas (38%), Erongo (12%), Oshana (10%), Otjozondjupa (9%) and Oshikoto region (6%). As can be seen in Figure 2, the majority of the recorded road crashes occurred in the regions with the largest cities/towns in Namibia.

Furthermore, statistics provided by the Roads Authority (see Table 3 above) indicate that the largest number of registered vehicles during the year 2015 were recorded in the following towns: Windhoek (Khomas region; 159,865 or 45%), Oshakati (Oshana region; 27,867or 8%), Walvis Bay (Erongo region; 20,900 or 6%) and Swakopmund (Erongo region; 19,628 or 6%). The high traffic volumes in Khomas, Erongo and Oshana regions may explain the high number of crashes in these regions.

1800

1600

1400

1200

1000

800

600

400

200

0

Khom

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FIGURE 2: CRASHES PER REGION

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2014 2015


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CRASHESTable 4 below shows inhabitants per region (As per the 2011 population and housing census), as well as the number of casualties recorded in each region during the year under review. Khomas region has the largest proportion of the Namibian population (342,141) as well as the highest number of casualties (2,531) for the year 2015. The region with the smallest population is Omaheke (71,233), while the region that recorded the least number of casualties (146) is Zambezi with a population of (90,536).

2.5 TYPES OF CRASHESTable 5 indicates that in 2014, the leading crash types were roll-over crashes followed by collisions. In 2015, roll-over crashes remained the most prevalent type of crash (30%), followed by collisions (28%) and crashes involving pedestrians (22%). Roll-over crashes are attributed to speed, alcohol, fatigue and/or weather conditions. A detailed analysis of the roll-over crashes is provided in section 6 of this report. Crash investigators have linked collisions to speed, inadequate following distance, illegal overtaking, non-compliance with traffic light signals and driving while under the influence of alcohol. Crashes involving pedestrians, on the other hand, may occur as a result of lack of road safety adherence, speeding, alcohol abuse and failure to use pedestrian crossings, among other reasons.

In addition to the above, it is important to note as per figures in the table below that hit and run and animal-related crashes are also a concern in Namibia, as well as cyclist safety.


CRASHES2.6 TYPES OF CRASHES PER REGION

The distribution of crash types across each region for 2015 is displayed in Table 6. The majority of the crashes involving pedestrians were recorded in the Khomas (49%), Oshana (11%), Erongo (9%) and Kavango East and West (5%) regions. Similarly, most of the crashes involving collisions with other vehicles occurred in Khomas (51%), Oshana (12%) and Erongo (12%). Moreover, Khomas (16%), Otjozondjupa (14%) Erongo (14%), and Hardap (9%) regions recorded the highest number of roll-over crashes. The numbers of crashes involving cyclists were highest in the Khomas (38%), Erongo (20%) and Oshana (10%) regions, while most of the animal related crashes occurred in the Oshikoto (23%), Otjozondjupa (20% and Kavango (14%) regions.

With regards to region specific crashes, roll-over types of crashes were dominant in almost all the regions, except for Khomas, Oshana and Zambezi regions, which were dominated by collisions and pedestrian crashes respectively.

2.7 CRASHES BY DAY OF WEEKRoad crashes are prevalent throughout the week although the majority occur during weekends. As indicated in Figure 3 below, a similar trend was observed during the years 2014 and 2015, whereby road crashes commonly occurred during weekends. Statistics indicate that 54% of the 2015 crashes occurred between Fridays and Sundays, as is the case in 2014 where at least 51% of the crashes were recorded during the same days.


CRASHESCrash distribution by days of the week for 2015 were on Thursdays (12%) and Mondays (12%) and Tuesdays (11%) while Wednesdays had (11%).

2.8 CRASHES BY DAY OF WEEK PER REGIONThe distribution per region of crashes by day of the week is displayed in Table 7. For the majority of regions most crashes occurred on Saturdays, whilst for Otjozondjupa region the majority of crashes were observed on Sundays.

1000

800

600

400

200

0

Sund

ays

Mon

days

Tues

days

Wed

nesd

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sday

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Frid

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Satu

rday

s

639

704

522

485

481

481

443

457 52

5

518 67

6

676

752

896

2014 2015

FIGURE 3: CRASHES BY DAY OF WEEK


CRASHES2.9 CRASHES BY TIME OF DAYFigure 4 illustrates the distribution of crashes by time of day for the years 2014 and 2015. A similar trend of road crashes by time of day was observed during the year 2015 as compared to the previous year (2014). The majority of crashes occurred during evening hours which could be attributed to compromised visibility. As indicated in Figure 4, a total of 1961 crashes (47%) occurred between 16H00 and 23H59 during 2015. Other critical times were morning hours of 06H00 to 09H59 (14%) as well as lunch time between 12H00 and 13H59 (9%).

2.10 TYPES OF VEHICLES INVOLVED IN CRASHESA total of 5,643 vehicles were involved in crashes recorded in 2015 (see Figure 5 below). This is a 7% increase from the 5,287 recorded in 2014. The majority of the vehicles that were involved in crashes in 2015 were sedans (48%) and pick-ups (31%). It is worth noting that the number of trucks that were involved in crashes decreased by 25% from 402 in 2014 to 301 in 2015.

700

600

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398317

282138

80

2014 2015

FIGURE 4: CRASHES BY TIME OF DAY

3000

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

0

Mot

or c

ycle

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Buse

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SUVs

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ks

Pick

-ups

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88 101

214

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1690

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2393

2690

304

361

2014 2015

FIGURE 5: TYPES OF VEHICLES INVOLVED IN CRASHES


CRASHES TYPE OF VEHICLE INVOLVED IN CRASHES PER REGION

2.11 TYPE OF VEHICLE INVOLVED IN CRASHES PER REGIONThe distribution of the type of vehicle involved in crashes by region is displayed in Table 8 below. Pick-ups were the most represented vehicle type in crashes for almost all of the regions. However, the majority of crashes reported in Erongo (12%), Hardap, Kavango, Khomas (47%) and Oshana regions (10%) involved sedans.

In addition to the above, a significant proportion of the crashes involving SUVs were recorded in Khomas (33%) and Erongo (18%) regions, while most of the recorded truck crashes occurred in Khomas (36%) and Otjozondjupa regions (15%).

Furthermore, the Khomas and Otjozondjupa regions had the highest number of recorded crashes involving buses, with 41% and 15% respectively.


CRASHES2.12 USE OF VEHICLES INVOLVED IN CRASHESThe purposes of use for vehicles involved in crashes recorded in 2015 are displayed in Figure 6 below. The majority of the vehicles were used for private purposes (67%), followed by those that were used for public transportation (13%), and then business transportation (12%). In 9% of the cases, the purpose of vehicle could not be established.

0 1000 2000 3000 4000

Unknown

Companies

Public

Private

304

507

622

659

841

715

3520

3774

FIGURE 6: USE OF VEHICLES INVOLVED IN CRASHES

2014 2015


SECTION 3: INJURIES3.1 INTRODUCTIONThis section provides an analysis of the injury data for the year 2015, in comparison to the preceding year. The analysis also considered the trend of injuries over the past five years, the number of injured persons per month and region, as well as the gender, age and road-user category. Another critical aspect of the injury data analysis is the patients’ average length of stay in hospital. Further, the aspect of seriously injured caretakers as well as information concerning the Spinal Cord Injury Unit is presented under this section.

3.2 INJURY PER YEARThere has been an upward trend over the past five years in the number of injuries occurring as a result of road crashes in Namibia. As can be seen in Figure 7, an average of 6281 persons are injured in crashes each year. Across five years (from 2011 to 2015), the number of injured persons has increased by 30%. This is due to a steady yearly increase. For example, there was a negligible decrease (0.1%) in the number of persons injured by road crashes during the year 2012 as compared to 2011. However, there was 3% increase between 2012 and 2013, an 18% increase between 2013 and 2014, and a further 6 % increase between 2014 and 2015.

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

8000

7000

6000

5000

4000

3000

2000

1000

0

5659 5652 5845

69187333

FIGURE 7: INJURIES PER YEAR


INJURIES3.3 INJURED PERSONS PER 100,000 POPULATION

Figure 8 displays the ratio of injuries per 100,000 population for the past five years. The rates indicate an upward trend from the recorded 267.8 injured persons per 100,000 population during the year 2011 to 347.04 per 100,000 population for the year under review.

3.4 INJURIES PER MONTHTable 9 provides the distribution of injured persons by month for the past five years. It is evident that most of the recorded injuries occur during December. This was the case for each year, with the exception of 2013 when a higher number of injuries were recorded in July. The high number of crashes and persons injured during December can be attributed to the festive season, which includes Christmas and New Year celebrations.

During the 2014/15 Festive Season Road Safety Campaign period (22 Nov 2014 – 15 Jan 2015), a total of 614 crashes, 1261 injuries and 97 fatalities occurred in Namibia. This is a period where high traffic volume is experienced on national roads.

Injury statistics for 2015 indicate that most injuries occurred during December (10%), followed by August and October, representing 10% and 9% of the annual injuries respectively.

400

350

300

250

200

150

100

50

0 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

267.8 267.5 276.6

327.4347.04

2011 - 2015

FIGURE 8: INJURIES PER 100,000 POPULATION


INJURIES3.5 INJURIES PER REGIONThe number of injured persons per region is displayed in Figure 9. The majority of injured persons were in the Khomas region (33%) followed by Erongo (12%), Otjozondjupa (11%) and Oshana (10%) regions. The highest number of recorded crashes are also from these regions.

In contrast, the Kunene and Zambezi regions had the lowest number of injured persons during 2015, each representing 2% of the total number of injured persons.

3.6 INJURED PERSONS BY AGE GROUPThe analysis of injured persons across age group is displayed in Figure 10 below. Even though injuries occurred across all age groups, the most affected were young people, mainly between the ages of 16 and 35 years, accounting for 3,721 (51%) of all persons injured in crashes in 2015.

2500

2000

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810

128

121

FIGURE 9: INJURIES PER REGION

2014 2015


INJURIESA similar trend was observed in 2014, whereby 56% of the injured persons were young people. Another concern is that of children under 15 years of age. As can be seen in Figure 10, 9% of those injured in 2015 are children under 15 years of age, who in most cases are vulnerable to pedestrian-related crashes.

3.7 INJURED PERSONS BY GENDERThe majority of those injured in road crashes in 2014 and 2015 were males. As can be seen from Figure 11, males accounted for 64% of the total injury profile in 2015, while females accounted for only 36%. Similarly, during the preceding year, the majority (64%) of those that sustained injuries were males.

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2014 2015

FIGURE 10: INJURED PERSONS BY AGE GROUP

2014 2014 2015 2015

5000

4000

3000

2000

1000

0

4427

2491

4715

2618

FIGURE 11: INJURED PERSONS BY GENDER: 2014-2015

Males Females


INJURIES3.8 INJURED PERSONS BY ROAD USER CATEGORYFigure 12 provides the distribution of injured persons by road user category for 2014 and 2015. Across both years, mostly passengers in vehicles involved in these crashes were injured. In 2015, 59% of those injured were passengers, 23% were drivers and 13% were pedestrians. Furthermore, cyclists accounted for 2% of those injured.

3.9 TRIAGING AT HOSPITALSThe majority of the injured persons (99.8%) were transported to various state hospitals nationwide (see Figure 13). The MVA Fund took a business decision in 2011 to have all injured persons triaged at state hospitals, exception is made when the treatment and equipment required to treat the patient as per the assessment of paramedics on scene or treating doctor can only be provided in private hospitals. If this is the case, then referrals to a private hospital is considered.

As can be seen from Figure 13, only 0.2% of those injured were transported to private hospitals for injury management. This however does not indicate transfer of patients that were later referred to private medical facilities after initial assessment and or admission at a Public Hospital.

0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500

Unknown

Cyclists

Pedestrians

Drivers

Passengers

0

230

993

975

169

146

1640

16924116

4290

FIGURE 12: INJURED PERSONS BY ROAD USER CATEGORY

2014 2015

State Private

7000

6000

5000

4000

3000

2000

1000

0

6516

11

FIGURE 13: HOSPITALS WHERE INJURED WERE TRANSPORTED TO: 2015


INJURIES3.10 AVERAGE LENGTH OF STAY IN HOSPITALSTable 10 illustrates the average number of days per month stayed, in hospitals by patients that were admitted for moderate and severe injuries. Patients who sustained moderate injuries stayed in hospital for an average of 16.31 days, while the severely injured patients had an average hospital stay of 24.97 days.

3.11 SERIOUSLY INJURED

Table 11 indicates the number of serious injuries for the year 2015. The two leading types of severe injuries, sustained in 2015 are Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs) (56%) and Spinal Cord Injuries (44%). These have contributed to the extended length of stay per month for severe cases.

3.12 CARETAKERS FOR SERIOUSLY INJURED PATIENTSThe Fund makes provision for seriously injured patients to have caretakers. Caretakers are primarily responsibility for assisting the injured with their daily living activities. Caretaker training commences immediately after the patient is out of the acute stage of injury and continues when they are discharged from hospital. The caretaker training is provided by the Rehabilitation Team (Occupational therapists, Physiotherapists and Nurses), who are dealing with the management of MVA Fund clients in various rehabilitation institutions.

A Caretaker training manual has been developed by the MVA Fund and two groups of Caretakers have been trained so far. The first group with 8 Caretakers was trained in Windhoek and another group with 15 caretakers was trained in in Ongwediva; giving us a total of 23 Caretakers trained in 2015. On average, the total cost spent by the Fund on training was N$47 060.00. The training was provided by the MVA Fund Rehabilitation Quality Specialist and the Rehabilitation Coach who is based at Spinalis Unit at Ministry of Health and Social Services – Central Hospital.

Monitoring of patient care after discharge is done through regular follow-ups with the Rehabilitation Team and the patient’s Doctor to observe, reduce and prevent any deterioration in health or signs of common infections. Further, bi-annual home visits by MVA Fund Case Managers are conducted to assess any change in the patient’s home environment and home situation. This is done in order to promptly attend to any claimant needs identified. The main challenges faced with regard to caring for those who have been seriously injured are high caretaker turn-over and lack of disability friendly residences, especially at public places.


INJURIES3.13 SPINAL CORD INJURY REHABILITATION UNITThe Spinalis Namibia Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Rehabilitation Unit was established through a tripartite partnership between the MVA Fund, the Ministry of Health and Social Services and the Spinalis Foundation of Sweden. The Unit, situated in Windhoek Central Hospital was opened in October 2013 by the Minister for Health and Social Services, Dr. Richard Kamwi.

The Unit provides services to patients who have sustained spinal cord injuries (SCI), regardless of whether they were as a result of motor vehicle crashes or not. The overall objective of the Unit is to offer a one-stop service to patients, with the aim of returning spinal cord injured persons to a life of maximum independence by the time they are discharged from the Unit.

Since January to December 2015, a total of 60 patients have been rehabilitated at this Unit. This figure is a result of road crashes only. Apart from persons injured in road crashes the unit also offers rehabilitation to those that sustain spinal cord injuries as a result of other non-motor vehicle accident-related accidents. These other patients either sustained Spinal cord injuries due to gunshot wounds, stab wounds, diving accidents, TB spine or due to other medical conditions such as cancer of the spine.


SECTION 4: FATALITIES4.1 INTRODUCTIONThis section presents an analysis of road crash fatality data for 2015 and compares this to data from 2014. The trend of fatalities over the past five years is also presented. Fatality data for the past three years are broken down through months and regions. Other considerations under this section are the analysis of fatality by age group, gender and road user categories, as well as pre and post hospital fatalities.

4.2 FATALITIES PER YEARRoad crash fatalities have become one of the leading causes of deaths in Namibia and the number of people that die as a result of road crashes is increasing. As can be seen from Figure 14, in comparison to the previous year (2015), fatalities increased by 14% during 2012, 13% in 2013 and by 7% in 2014. Just like all other years, 2015 saw a 4% increase in fatalities as compared to the 2014 road deaths. Overall, the data from the previous five years show that on average, 613 road deaths are recorded in Namibia annually.

800

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400

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200

100

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2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

492561

633676

702

FIGURE 14: FATALITIES TREND: 2011-2015


FATALITIES4.3 FATALITIES PER 100,000 POPULATIONFigure 15 shows the trend of fatality rates per 100,000 population over the past five years. As the Figure illustrates, an increasing trend has been observed for the past five years. While a total of 23.28 fatalities per 100,000 people was recorded for 2011, this number has increased to 33.22 fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants in 2015.

4.4 FATALITIES PER MONTHThe number of fatalities per month that were recorded in Namibia for the past three years is displayed in Table 12 below. For the year 2015, road fatalities have been recorded throughout the year, although there are more fatalities in some months compared to others.

As can be seen from Table 12, the majority of the fatalities recorded in 2013 occurred during December (12%), while March was the leading month in terms of fatalities for the year 2014, accounting for 10% of the annual fatalities. For the 2015 year, most fatalities were recorded during November, accounting for 11%of the annual fatalities. It is also worth noting, that for the past three years, fewer fatalities occurred during February.

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

23.2826.55

29.9631.99

33.22

FIGURE 15: FATALITY RATES PER 100,000 POPULATION PER YEAR: 2011-2015


FATALITIES4.5 FATALITIES PER REGIONTable 13 illustrates the number of fatalities recorded per region during the past three years. As Table 13 shows, in 2013, most fatalities recorded were from the Otjozondjupa region (12%). However, in 2014 and again in 2015, the Khomas region recorded the highest number of fatalities (15% and 16% respectively). The region with the least number of fatalities during the year 2015 was Omaheke, accounting for only 3%.

4.6 FATALITIES BY AGE GROUPSimilar to the report on injuries, the recorded fatality data indicate that deaths among young people are overrepresented in road crashes in Namibia. As can be seen from Figure 16, the majority of those that died during the year 2015 were between 16 and 35 years of age (43%).

A similar pattern was observed in 2014, with 44% of the fatalities being people in this age range. Children under 15 years of age were also persons affected by road accidents with 14% of those that died in 2015 being children under 15 years of age.

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FIGURE 16: FATALITIES BY AGE GROUP: 2014-2015100

908070605040302010

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2014 2015


FATALITIES4.7 FATALITIES BY GENDER

Figure 17 illustrates the distribution of the 2014 and 2015 fatalities by gender. In 2014, the majority of those killed in road crashes were male, representing 70% of the fatality record.

A similar finding was observed in 2015, with more males (71%) than females (29%) being killed in road crashes. The overrepresentation of males in fatal road crashes remains a growing concern.

4.8 FATALITIES BY GENDER, PER REGIONTable 14 below indicates the distribution of fatalities by gender per region for 2015. In every region, a higher number of males than females were killed. Furthermore, the largest number of female fatalities were recorded in the Otjozondjupa (18%) and Khomas (16%) regions when compared to other regions. However, this was because these regions had the highest number of fatalities overall and as such these two regions also had the largest number of male fatalities, representing 17% for Khomas on and 13% for Otjozondjupa regions.

2014 2014 2015 2015

600

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476

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Males Females

FIGURE 17: FATALITIES BY GENDER: 2014-2015


FATALITIES4.9 FATALITIES BY GENDER, PER AGE GROUP

Table 15 shows the recorded fatalities by gender and age groups. Of the female road users killed in 2015, about 23% were under 15 years of age, in comparison to only 10% of male road users killed from the same age group. Furthermore, young people between the ages of 16 and 35 years accounted for 47% of the total males and 32% of the total number of females killed in 2015. Road users above the age of 60 years accounted for 12% of the total female fatalities and 8% of total male fatalities.

4.10 FATALITIES BY ROAD USER CATEGORY

As it is the case with injured persons by road user category, the majority of the fatalities were passengers and pedestrians. In 2015, the majority of those killed in road crashes were passengers (45%), followed by pedestrians (26%) and drivers with (26%).


FATALITIESAs can be seen from Figure 18, the number of passengers who died in a road crash increased by 8% between 2014 and 2015. Pedestrian fatalities decreased, significantly, by 12% during this period. In contrast, the number of fatalities for drivers involved in road crashes increased by 17% during the two years. Cyclist fatalities decreased by 6% from 16 cyclists being killed in 2014 to 15 reported cyclist deaths in 2015.

4.11 FATALITIES BY ROAD USER CATEGORIES, BY AGE GROUP

The distribution of the recorded fatalities across road user category and age group is displayed in Table 16. The majority of children under the ages of 15 years who were killed were pedestrians (23%) and passengers (18%).

Fatalities for the critical age groups ranging from 16 and 35 years of age consisted of: cyclists (47%), drivers (45%), passenger (45%) and pedestrians (36%).

Unknown

Cyclists

Drivers

Pedestrians

Passengers

0

2

155

182

16

15

211

185

294

318

FIGURE 18: FATALITIES BY ROAD USER CATEGORY: 2014-2015

2014 2015

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450


FATALITIES4.12 FATALITIES BY PLACE OF DEATH

Most deaths were confirmed by paramedics at the scene of the crash (see Figure 19). In 2015, 63% of the deceased lost their lives at the crash scene, 23% died while they were receiving medical attention at hospitals and 3% died while being transported to hospitals. A similar situation was observed during the year 2014, whereby the majority of the fatalities occurred at crash scenes (70%) and in hospitals (21%).

0

Way to Hospital

Hospitals

Scene

20

22

474

445

139

159

FIGURE 19: FATALITIES BY PLACE OF DEATH: 2014-2015

2014 2015

100 200 300 400 500


SECTION 5: PEDESTRIAN CRASHES5.1 INTRODUCTIONThis section presents a detailed analysis of the recorded pedestrian crashes that occurred during 2015. The analysis is done in relation to the recorded pedestrian crashes during 2014. The analysis will focus on pedestrian crashes per region, by day of the week and time of the day. Furthermore, pedestrian casualties will be examined by age group and gender.

5.2 PEDESTRIAN CRASHES PER YEARFigure 20 shows the trend of pedestrian crashes for the past three years. The number of pedestrian crashes increased by 6% between 2013 and 2014. However, a significant decrease (20%) was observed for 2015, in comparison to the previous year. Across the past three years, on average, a total of 1,039 pedestrian crashes are recorded on Namibian roads per year.

1200

1000

800

600

400

200

02013

1072

2014

1139

2015

907

FIGURE 20: PEDESTRIAN CRASH TREND: 2013-2015


PEDESTRIAN CRASHES5.3 PEDESTRIAN CRASHES PER REGIONTable 17 shows the distribution of the recorded pedestrian crashes per region. Although pedestrian crashes occurred in all regions in Namibia during 2015, the regions with the highest pedestrian related crashes were Khomas (49%), Oshana (11%), Erongo (9%) and Kavango (5%).

Furthermore, 30% of all crashes that occurred in the Kavango region were pedestrian related, while for the Khomas and Oshana regions, pedestrian crashes accounted for 29% and 26% of the total number of reported crashed.

5.4 PEDESTRIAN CRASHES BY TIME OF DAYAs it is the case with all types of crashes, the majority of the pedestrian crashes occurred during evening hours (see Figure 21). This was evident in data from both 2014 and 2015. For 2015, 47% of the pedestrian crashes occurred between 16H00 and 23H59. Likewise, for the previous year, 50% of the pedestrian crashes occurred during the same time range (16H00 to 23H59).

Table 17: Pedestrian crashes per region: 2015Regions Total Crashes Pedestrian Crashes PercentagesErongo 488 83 17%

173 19 11%

//Karas 129 16 12%

Kavango 160 48 30%

Khomas 1611 448 28%

Kunene 72 5 7%

Ohangwena 193 46 24%

Omaheke 87 11 13%

173 30 17%

Oshana 403 103 26%

Oshikoto 245 37 15%

Otjozondjupa 397 34 9%

Zambezi 79 27 34%

Total 4210 907

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157135

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4620

FIGURE 21: PEDESTRIAN CRASHES BY TIME OF DAY: 2014-2015

2014 2015


PEDESTRIAN CRASHES5.5 PEDESTRIAN CRASHES BY DAY OF WEEK

Figure 22 shows the distribution of the recorded pedestrian crashes by day of the week for the years 2014 and 2015. In 2015, the majority of the pedestrian crashes occurred on Saturdays (19%) and Fridays (17%). This was a similar trend to 2014, where the highest proportion of crashes occurred on these days.

For 2015, the lowest number of pedestrian crashes were recorded on Wednesdays (12%) and Thursdays (12%) compared to other days of the week.

5.6 PEDESTRIAN INJURIESFigure 23 displays the number of injured pedestrians recorded for 2014 and 2015. The number of recorded pedestrian crashes decreased by 2% across the two years. On average, a total of 984 pedestrians are injured each year.

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Sund

ays

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154

116

160

123

146

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132

107

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194

158 20

5

168

FIGURE 22: PEDESTRIAN CRASHES BY DAY OF WEEK: 2014-2015

2014 2015

995

990

985

980

975

970

9652014

993

2015

975

FIGURE 23: PEDESTRIAN INJURIES PER YEAR: 2014-2015


PEDESTRIAN CRASHES5.7 NUMBER OF INJURED PEDESTRIANS BY AGE GROUPFigure 24 shows the number of injured pedestrians by age group. Almost half (43%) of the injured pedestrians were aged between 16 and 35 years, while 23% of those injured were children under 15 years of age. These results show that children and the youth particularly being vulnerable amongst road users.

5.8 NUMBER OF INJURED PEDESTRIANS BY GENDER

The gender distribution of the injured pedestrians for both 2014 and 2015 is displayed in Figure 25. Across both years, the majority of those injured were male. For 2014, 66% of the injured pedestrians were male while for 2015 about 64% of those injured were also male.

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FIGURE 24: PEDESTRIAN CRASHES BY AGE GROUP: 2014-2015

2014 2015

2014 2014 2015 2015

700

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658

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348

FIGURE 25: INJURED PEDESTRIANS BY GENDER: 2014-2015

Males Females


PEDESTRIAN CRASHES5.9 PEDESTRIAN FATALITIESThe annual pedestrian fatalities for the years 2014 and 2015 are displayed in Figure 26. The number of pedestrian fatalities recorded in 2015 was 12% lower than what was reported in 2014. On average, across the past two years, 198 pedestrian fatalities were recorded each year.

5.10 PEDESTRIAN FATALITIES BY AGE GROUPThe distribution of the recorded pedestrian fatalities by age group is displayed in Figure 27. Young people aged between 16 and 35 years accounted for the largest proportion of pedestrian fatalities (36%). Furthermore, children aged 15 and younger accounted for 23% of pedestrian fatalities in 2015.

200

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2014

211

2015

185

FIGURE 26: PEDESTRIAN FATALITIES PER YEAR: 2014-2015

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FIGURE 27: PEDESTRIAN FATALITIES BY AGE GROUP: 2014-2015

2014 2015


PEDESTRIAN CRASHES5.11 PEDESTRIAN FATALITIES BY GENDERFigure 28 illustrates the distribution of pedestrian fatalities by gender. The majority of the recorded fatalities were male pedestrians (70%). Slightly higher than the percentage of male pedestrians killed in 2014 (67%).

5.12 PEDESTRIAN FATALITIES BY PLACE OF DEATHFigure 29 illustrates the number of pedestrian fatalities by place of death for the years 2014 and 2015. The majority of deaths occurred at the crash scene (66%), followed by those that occurred in hospitals (31%) and only a small percentage during transportation to hospital (3%).

Similar patterns were observed in 2014. The majority of pedestrian deaths occurred at the crash scene (70%) and 26% others died while they were admitted in hospitals.

2014 2014 2015 2015

160

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142

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MalesFemales

FIGURE 28: PEDESTRIAN FATALITIES BY GENDER: 2014-2015

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160

Way to Hospital

Hospitals

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2014 2015

8

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148

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FIGURE 29: PEDESTRIAN FATALITIES BY PLACE OF DEATH: 2014-2015


SECTION 6: ROLL-OVER CRASHES6.1 INTRODUCTIONThis section provides an in-depth analysis of the recorded roll-over type of crashes during the year 2015 in comparison to 2014. These type of crashes will be examined across the regional distribution, the time of day and also by the day of the week. Out of 7333 injuries recorded in 2015, 1120 (15%) were as result of roll-over and out of 702 fatalities reported, 276 (39%) died as result of roll-over related crashes.

6.2 ROLL-OVER CRASHES PER YEARRoll-over type of crashes are very common in Namibia. As can be seen from Figure 30 below, these type of crashes are on the increase. Roll-over crashes increased by 10% from 1,138 reported crashes in 2014 to 1256 in 2015. According to these statistics, on average 1,197 roll-over crashes occur each year.

6.3 ROLL-OVER CRASHES PER REGIONThe roll-over crashes per region are displayed in Table 18. The majority of the recorded roll-over crashes for 2015 were from the Khomas region, representing 16% of the total recorded crashes for that year. Other regions with a large number of roll-over crashes were Otjozondjupa, Erongo with 14% each, and Hardap at 9%. It should be noted that these are also the top three regions with the highest recorded number of crashes. Roll over-crashes are mainly attributed to excessive speed, fatigue, worn-out tyres, alcohol and other substance abuse, although there may be many other contributory factors.

1300

1250

1200

1150

1100

1050

2014

1138

2015

1256

FIGURE 30: ROLL-OVER CRASHES PER YEAR: 2014-2015


ROLL-OVER CRASHESTable 18 also displays the proportion of roll-over crashes in relation to all other types of crashes that occurred in each region. Across a number of regions, roll-over crashes constituted a large proportion of i.e 66% of all crashes in the Hardap region were roll-over crashes and 64% of all crashes that occurred in both the Omaheke and Kunene regions during 2015 were roll-overs. Furthermore, 62% of the crashes that occurred in //Karas region were also roll-overs.

6.4 ROLL OVER-CRASHES BY TIME OF DAYFigure 31 displays the distribution of roll-over crashes by time of the day. The majority of the recorded roll-over crashes occurred during evening hours.

Almost half (44%) of these crashes occurred between 16H00 and 23H59. Night driving increases the risk of being involved in crashes, as the driver’s visibility is minimized. This is a common contributory factor to most crash types.

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FIGURE 31: ROLL OVER-CRASHES BY TIME OF THE DAY: 2014-2015

2014 2015


ROLL-OVER CRASHES6.5 ROLL-OVER CRASHES BY DAY OF WEEKThe number of roll-over crashes by day of week is displayed in Figure 32. It is evident that these types of road crashes occur mainly during weekends and that this has remained consistent for both 2014 and 2015.

As can be seen from Figure 32 below, 59% of the roll-over crashes reported in 2015 occurred between Fridays through Sundays. Likewise, there were less recorded roll-over crashes on Wednesdays (11%) and Tuesdays (10%) compared to the other days of the week.

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FIGURE 32: ROLL-OVER CRASHES BY DAY OF WEEK: 2014-2015

2014 2015


SECTION 7: MVA FUND BENEFIT CLAIMS7.1 INTRODUCTIONThis section provides the analysis of the 2015 registered benefit claims, in comparison to the previous year. The analysis includes the trend of registered claims, the distribution of the 2015 registered claims per month, claims by benefit type per month as well as the analysis of the lodged claims in relation to the number of Case Coordinators at each Service Centre.

The MVA Fund is established in terms of The MVA Fund Act 10, 2007, with the purpose to design, develop, promote and implement motor vehicle accident and injury prevention measures; fairly and reasonably provide assistance and benefits to a person who is injured in a motor vehicle accident and to fairly and reasonably provide assistance and benefits to a person who suffers loss as a dependent of a person killed in a motor vehicle accident. The benefits that the Fund offers are subject to certain exclusions and limitations as stipulated in Section 26 of the MVA Fund Act 10 of 2007.

The Fund’s benefits include the following:

• Injury Grant

• Funeral Grant

• Loss of Support

• Loss of Income

• Medical Benefit

The Fund’s desire is to have all the possible claims submitted within a period of three months from the date of crash. This will help with the speedy assistance of our clients as well as establishing the Fund’s liability and exposure soonest. The Act however makes provision for claimants to lodge claims within a period of up to one year, from the date the crash occurred. Prescription of claims however does not run against a minor and allows for up to the age of 22 at which a claim can expire.

7.2 BENEFIT CLAIMS PER YEARStatistics indicate a downward trend in the number of personal benefit claims, regardless of the fact that crashes, injuries and fatalities are on the increase this is because most claims are settled directly with Service Providers. As illustrated in Figure 33, even though a downward trend has been observed for the past four years, a slight increase of 5% was observed in 2015 as compared to the preceding year.


MVA FUND BENEFIT CLAIMS Benefit claims reduced by 14% during 2012 as compared to 2011. Likewise, a reduction by 3% was observed in 2013, as compared to the number of claims registered during the year 2012. There was however, a slight increase (9%) in the number of claims registered during 2014 as compared to the 2013 figures. On average, each year 3,502 benefit claims are lodged with the Fund.

7.3 BENEFIT CLAIMS PER MONTHThe number of registered benefit claims per month is displayed in Figure 34 below. As presented in this figure, the number of claims lodged in 2015 varied from month to month. The highest number of benefit claims were lodged during October (10%), followed by April and July l with 9% each of the total annual claims.

The months with less benefit claims were May, February and December with 7% each. An average of 304 benefit claims are lodged with the MVA Fund each month.

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2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

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FIGURE 33: REGISTERED BENEFIT CLAIMS PER YEAR: 2011-2015

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FIGURE 34: REGISTERED BENEFIT CLAIMS PER MONTH: 2015


MVA FUND BENEFIT CLAIMS 7.4 CLAIMS BY BENEFIT TYPEFigure 35 displays the types of benefits that the Fund offers as well as the number of claims that were lodged for the years 2014 and 2015. Most of the benefit claims lodged during the two year period were for injury grant benefit, representing 74% for both 2014 and 2015. This is a benefit offered to people who sustained injuries as a result of motor vehicle crashes. Funeral grant claims that are paid out to the families of the deceased accounted for 18% of the benefits claimed during the year under review. Furthermore, claims for Loss of Support accounted for 5% of the lodged claims. Loss of Support benefit is offered to the legal dependents of the deceased if the deceased was employed at the time of crash.

Medical reimbursement is offered to claimants, who for various reasons used their own funds for hospital bills and seek refunds from the Fund by submitting as reimbursement claim. Medical reimbursement accounts for (2%) of the total record, while Loss of Income benefit that is given to injured persons who, due to their injuries, were unable to earn an income from work accounted for 1% of the total record.

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FIGURE 35: REGISTERED CLAIMS BY BENEFIT TYPE: 2014-2015

2014 2015


MVA FUND BENEFIT CLAIMS7.5 CLAIMS BY BENEFIT TYPE, PER MONTHTable 19 illustrates the number of lodged claims by benefit type, per month during 2015. As can be seen from the table, Injury Grant (74%) were the most common type of claim each month followed by claims for the Funeral Grant (18%).

7.6 BENEFIT CLAIMS PER SERVICE CENTREIn efforts to widen its services, the Fund established service centers in the following towns: Windhoek, Ongwediva, Rundu, Walvis Bay, Keetmanshoop, Otjiwarongo and Katima Mulilo. Figure 36 shows the number of claims that were registered at each service centre, as well as the number of Case Coordinators that are responsible for the registration and processing of claims. Figure 36 also shows the average number of claims that each Case Coordinator handled during 2015.

The majority of the claims (42%) were lodged at the Windhoek Service Centre, followed by those submitted at the Ongwediva Service Center (27%). Less claims were lodged at Otjiwarongo and Katima Mulilo Service Centres, representing 6% and 5% of the total claims, respectively.

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FIGURE 36: CLAIMS PER SERVICE CENTRE VS NUMBER OF CASE COORDINATORS: 2015


MVA FUND BENEFIT CLAIMS7.7 REPUDIATED CLAIMS

The number and factors leading to repudiated claims are displayed in Figure 37 below. As can be seen in the figure, a total of 61 claims that were lodged were repudiated due to various reasons. The majority of the repudiated claims were submitted outside the prescription period (43%), followed by those that were lodged by unlicensed drivers at the time of crash (33%) Furthermore, 10% of the claimants were claiming for non-motor vehicle accident related injuries, 8% by illegal immigrants and 5% of the claims were lodged by persons who were wholly responsible for the crashes and their claims were therefore repudiated.

7.8 MEDICAL SERVICE PROVIDER CLAIMSTable 20 shows the number of Medical Service Providers claims per month, for the past three years. The number of claims in this regard increased by 58% from 2013 to 2014. However, a decrease of 2% was observed during 2015, compared to the 2014 claims. Statistics indicate that during 2015, most of the service providers’ claims were received in December (12%), while the least number of claims were received in May (6%).

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FIGURE 37: FACTORS LEADING TO REPUDIATED CLAIMS: 2015

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MVA FUND BENEFIT CLAIMSTable 21 below shows the monthly amount for accepted claims across a three year period. There is a notable upward trend with regard to the cost of claims. For example, from 2013 to 2014, the amount claimed increased by 35% whilst from 2014 to 2015 there was a further 8% increase. In 2015, the highest claimed amount was recorded in December (14%), while the least amount was recorded during May (5%).


SECTION 8: PUBLIC EDUCATION AND ACCIDENT AND INJURY PREVENTION PROGRAMMES8.1 PUBLIC EDUCATIONThe Fund undertook to increase the public/stakeholders level of knowledge through interventions at some targeted companies. Which were: Namibia Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), Windhoek Observer, Trustco Group of Companies, Omaruru Constituency Office, Ministry of Youth, Ministry of Works and Lady Pohamba Private Hospital. Targeted interventions were carried out during the year with the ultimate goal to attain 80% of product knowledge. About 97% of respondents know the products and services that are offered by the Fund.

8.2 ACCIDENT AND INJURY PREVENTIONAccident and Injury Prevention Strategies plays an important role in road safety management. Accident and injury prevention activities raises knowledge and understanding of risks associated with road traffic, the behavioral skills necessary to survive in traffic, as well as providing an understanding of the driver’s own responsibilities for keeping themselves safe. It also provides knowledge of the causes and consequences of road crashes and creates a responsible attitude towards the driver’s own safety and the safety of other road users.

Therefore, in an effort to reduce the escalating number of crashes and the detrimental consequences, an Accident and Injury Prevention Strategy was developed in line with the Decade of Action. The strategy was crafted to inculcate road safety culture at workplaces and further redress the aspect of pedestrian related road traffic crashes. Data from the Fund’s Call Centre indicate that the high crash frequency regions are Erongo, Otjozondjupa and Khomas, Oshana, Kavango respectively, hence two targeted interventions were carried out in each region per quarter for the year under review.

Continued injury prevention strategies are introduced annually together with strategic partners i.e. Ministry of Health and Social Services, in building emergency response and trauma capacity. Programme activities among others includes first responder training for Police and community members along high crash zones; upgrade of casualty centers at strategic points; funding of paramedic students and extensive marketing of MVA Fund accident response number.

Accident and Injury prevention strategies rely on galvanized partnerships with law enforcement agencies. To this extent, law enforcement interventions are enhanced with refresher training, provision of essential law enforcement equipment and periodic assistance with resources such as refreshments for officers manning road traffic check points.

8.3 FESTIVE SEASON ROAD SAFETY CAMPAIGN 2015/2016

As it has become a critical intervention to save lives on the national road network, the Fund in collaboration with the National Road Safety Council (NRSC), Ministry of Defense (MOD), Namibian Police (Nampol), Roads Authority (RA), Ministry of Health and Social Services (MoHSS) along with other stakeholders rolled out the Festive Season Road Safety Campaign. The campaign was launched on 02 November 2015, and officially commenced on 22 November 2015 until the 15 January 2016. The campaign was aimed at increasing road safety awareness, improve emergency response and law enforcement visibility all this with support amounting to N$ 1,953,020.00 from different stakeholders.

In comparison to the 2014/15 festive season campaign, the 2015/16 festive season campaign produced successful results in terms of a 4% and 2% reduction in the number of crashes and injuries reported. Recorded Crashes were 589 (614 for 2014/15 festive season), injuries were 1233 (1261 for 2014/15 festive season) and fatalities were 112 (97 for 2014/15 festive season).


SECTION 9: SUMMARYIt is evident that road safety is a major developmental concern in Namibia. Data on reported crashes in 2015 suggest that road safety in Namibia is increasingly becoming an issue that requires attention from both public and private sectors. The upward trend of road crashes, as presented in this report, calls for combined efforts from government, Non-governmental organizations, Civil Society Organizations and Individuals. Teamwork needs to be enhanced in order to fulfill the objectives of the Decade of Action as noted by the World Health Organization.

The main finding of this report is that there was a marginal increase of 4% in road crashes during the year 2015 as compared to the previous year. This is lower than the 16% increase reported from 2013 to 2014. Overall, across the previous five year period an average of 3,637 crashes occurred on Namibian roads per annum. On a monthly basis in 2015 alone, there was an average of 351 persons injured in crashes.

Further findings from the 2015 crash statistics are that; road crashes are recorded from all regions in Namibia. However, Khomas (38%), Erongo (12%), Oshana (10%) and Otjozondjupa (9%) emerge as the five regions with the highest number of crashes. The main type of crashes that occurred during 2015 were roll-overs, collisions and crashes involving pedestrians. These three broad categories of crashes accounted for a respective 30%, 28% and 22% of all recorded crashes. Pedestrian-related crashes were high in Khomas (49%), Oshana (11%), Erongo (9%) and Kavango regions (5%). Roll-over types of crashes were common from the Khomas (16%), Erongo (14), Otjozondjupa (14%), and Hardap (9%) regions.

Data collated in 2015 also indicate that more road crashes occurred during weekends than on weekdays with 54% of the crashes occurring during Fridays through to Sundays. These results provide support for night driving as a growing concern in Namibia, with a total of 47% of all recorded crashes occurring between 16H00 – 23H59 hours. Overall, and regarding the types of vehicles that were recorded in the 2015 crashes, the majority were sedans (48%) and pick-ups (31%). Most of those vehicles were for private use (67%) while public purpose accounted for 13% of the type of vehicles involved in a crash.

From 2014 to 2015, the number of injured road users increased by 18%. On average, 6,281 injured persons are recorded annually. The 2015 crash statistics suggest that the injury rate in motor vehicle crashes is 347.04 injured persons per 100,000 population while the regions with the highest number of recorded crashes also recorded the largest number of injured persons: Khomas (33%), Erongo (12%), Otjozondjupa (11%) and Oshana regions (10%).

The most represented age groups in crashes in the Namibian population are young people between the ages of 16 to 35 years. At least 51% of the persons injured in the crashes reported in 2015 were in that age range. Similarly, of those killed, 43% were young people in the same age range. With regard to gender, the majority of the casualties were males, representing 64% of the 2015 injured persons and 71% of those who were killed. Some further highlights of the casualty statistics are that the majority of those injured in road crashes were passengers (59%) and drivers (23%). In addition, these two road user categories accounted for the majority of those killed in the crashes, representing 45% of passengers and 26% of the drivers. The majority of the fatalities occurred at crash scenes (63%) or hospitals (23%).

Fatalities due to road crashes in 2015 increased by 4% from those reported in 2014. This indicates that on average, 613 deaths are recorded on Namibia’s roads annually. The findings of this report illustrate an exposure rate of 33.2 per 100,000 population fatalities in road crashes in 2015. Most of the fatalities occurred in November (11%) and July (10%). The regions with the highest number of fatalities were Khomas (16%) and Otjozondjupa (14%) region.

In respect of benefit claims that are offered by the MVA Fund, the number of claims increased by 5% from 2014 to 2015. On average, a total of 3,502 benefit claims were lodged with the Fund, per annum. Most of the 2015 claims were lodged during October (10%), followed by April and July, representing 9% each. The highest proportion of benefit claims lodged was for Injury Grant (74%), followed by claims for Funeral benefit (18%) and Loss of support (5%). Most of the claims were submitted and processed at the Windhoek Service Centre (42%), followed by those lodged at Ongwediva (27%) and Otjiwarongo Centre (6%). Furthermore, a total of 61 benefit claims were repudiated during the year 2015, 43% were lodged after the prescribed date, 33% were lodged by unlicensed drivers, and 10% were repudiated as injuries were non-motor vehicle accident related, 8% were illegal immigrants and 5% claimants were wholly responsible for the crash.

With respect to Medical Service Providers, the report shows that a total of 24,549 claims were received, indicating a decrease of 2% from 2014. With these claims, a total of N$ 145,096,746.95 claimed amount was processed, which indicates an increase of 8% from the recorded N$ 134,693,097.87 claimed in 2014.


SECTION 10: RECOMMENDATIONSSignificant efforts have been made with the aim of reducing road crashes in Namibia. These include building road safety management capacity, improving the safety of road infrastructure and broadening transport networks, developing the safety of vehicles, enhancing the behaviors of road users and improving post-crash care, as required by the Worlds Health Organization’s Decade of Action. However, regardless of these efforts, the Country still needs to do more in the fight against road crashes.

Based on the 2015 crash statistics, the following recommendations are therefore suggested to the various road safety stakeholders:

There is a need to establish a national road safety committee, which will spearhead, facilitate and co-ordinate the activities of road safety stakeholders’ activities, both from the private and public sectors.

An in-depth investigation of the roll-over types of crashes is required, with the view of gaining an exhaustive understanding of the causes of these types of crashes in Namibia.

Targeted road safety educational programs for young people, passengers and male drivers are advised, with the purpose of enhancing road safety knowledge among these vulnerable groups of the Namibian population.

There is a need to intensify public education awareness campaigns on road safety, particularly focusing on the dangers associated with speed as well as regarding pedestrian safety. Furthermore, more traffic calming measures within the high pedestrian prone regions should also be considered.

There is an urgent need to include location of crashes in crash data. This will help on the identification of most risky roads and will further strengthen the understanding of why accidents happen at specific locations and interventions can be done. Furthermore, crash data need to highlight alcohol related accidents and deaths – This is crucial as it will guide policing.

The number of deaths occurring at the scene is observed to be very high as a proportion to all deaths. Interventions should be done in order to improve pre-hospital care and response capacity.

The MVA Fund should intensify its public education programs, which are aimed at increasing public awareness on its products and benefits, in order to ensure that claims are submitted within the prescribed period.


NOTES


NOTES


NOTES



ONGWEDIVAMVA Fund Service Centre

Phone: 065 234060 / 1

RUNDUMVA Fund Service Centre

Phone: 066 255 826

KATIMA MULILOMVA Fund Service Centre

Phone: 066 - 253007

OTJIWARONGOMVA Fund Service Centre

Phone: 067 - 302258

WALVIS BAYMVA Fund Service Centre Phone: 064-202 677 / 659

WINDHOEKMVA Fund Service Centre

Phone: 061 241142

KEETMANSHOOPMVA Fund Service Centre

Phone: 063 – 221086

Documents

AND CLAIMS REPORT - MVA FUND