Aspects of road safety in Botswana

Figures & data

Table 1: Annual road traffic accident trends in Botswana

				Number of		Accidents		Casualties		Fatalities
Year	Number of accidents	Number of casualties	Number of fatalities	registered vehicles	Estimated population	Per 1000 vehicles	Per 10 000 population	Per 1000 vehicles	Per 10 000 population	Per 10 000 vehicles	Per 10 000 population
1981	1715	940	93	34 698	941 027	49.4	18.2	27.1	10.0	26.8	9.9
1982	2648	1614	130	38 451	975 628	68.9	27.1	42.0	16.5	33.8	13.3
1983	2205	1251	176	42 479	1 011 388	51.9	21.8	29.4	12.4	41.4	17.4
1984	3300	1799	168	47 192	1 048 245	69.9	31.5	38.1	17.2	35.6	15.5
1985	3521	2369	198	51 678	1 086 139	68.1	32.4	45.8	21.8	38.3	18.2
1986	4983	2448	182	55 604	1 125 008	89.6	44.3	44.0	21.8	32.7	16.2
1987	4515	2746	191	57 705	1 164 893	78.2	38.8	47.6	23.6	33.1	16.4
1988	5741	2923	262	64 301	1 205 834	89.3	47.6	45.5	24.2	40.7	21.7
1989	6299	4136	295	70 030	1 247 771	89.9	50.4	59.1	33.1	42.1	23.6
1990	7614	4845	314	80 953	1 290 642	94.1	59.0	59.8	37.5	38.8	24.3
1991	8381	4871	349	83 048	1 334 386	100.9	62.8	58.7	36.5	42.0	26.2
1992	9017	4909	368	90 405	1 378 993	99.7	65.4	54.3	35.6	40.7	26.7
1993	9169	5136	379	94 440	1 424 502	97.1	64.4	54.4	36.1	40.1	26.6
1994	9420	5171	352	108 043	1 494 840	87.2	63.0	47.9	34.6	32.6	23.5
1995	9536	5247	410	111 962	1 518 297	85.2	62.8	43.8	34.5	34.2	27.0
Source: GoB (1997:Table 8.9).

Table 2: Casualties by type of road user: 2000–2004

	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	% (2004)
Pedestrian	1409	1443	1486	1355	1467	18.7
Cyclist	143	147	125	101	131	1.7
Motorcyclist	37	66	79	85	55	0.7
Car user	1761	1750	2004	2075	1943	24.8
Taxi user	72	64	63	69	53	0.7
Four-wheel drive user	635	713	679	650	766	9.8
Pick-up user	2401	2261	2392	2392	2221	28.3
Light-duty van user	108	153	110	98	101	1.3
Lorry user	288	378	302	463	301	3.8
Minibus user	694	620	549	458	584	7.4
Bus user	123	190	94	115	110	1.4
Other	112	121	86	91	84	1.1
Unknown	7	39	15	11	24	0.3
Total casualties	7790	7945	8014	7963	7840	100
Source: GoB (2006:Table 2).

Table 3: Types of road accident in Botswana, 2004

		Nose-to-tail and side	Pedestrian	Head-on collision	Animals	Obstacle	Rollover	Other	Total
Towns	n	2917	943	208	817	996	422	5080	11 383
	%	25.6	8.3	1.8	7.2	8.7	3.7	44.7	100
Urban villages	n	763	513	207	1484	603	757	2109	6436
	%	1.9	8.0	3.2	23.1	9.4	1.8	32.6	100
Rest of Botswana	n	21	11	8	92	39	54	92	317
	%	6.6	3.5	2.5	29.0	12.3	17.0	29.1	100
Total	n	3701	1467	425	2393	1638	1233	7281	18 136
	%	20.4	8.1	2.3	13.2	9.0	6.8	40.2	100
Source: GoB (2008:Table 1).

Table 4: New registrations of motor vehicles in Botswana (privately owned)

Year	Cars	LDVs^a	Lorries^b	Others^c	Total
1995	3793	3084	1149	1460	9486
1996	3704	2609	1135	1230	8678
1997	5078	3111	1274	1548	11 011
1998	7385	5562	922	2037	15 906
1999	7466	6124	981	2491	17 062
2000	6690	4973	781	2396	14 840
2001	5447	3878	672	1541	11 538
2002	9313	7006	1136	2587	20 042
^aLight duty vans up to 1.5 tonnes unladen weight.
^bLorries more than 1.5 tonnes unladen weight.
^cBuses, motorcycles, tractors, trailers, caravans, etc.
Source: GoB (2001b, 2004).

Table 5: Examples of current fatality reduction targets in use worldwide

Country or area	Base year for target	Year in which target is to be reached	Target reduction in the number of road traffic fatalities
Australia	1997	2005	−10%
Austria	1998–2000	2010	−50%
Canada	1991–1996	2008–2010	−30%
Denmark	1998	2012	−40%
European Union	2000	2010	−50%
Finland	2000	2010	−37%
		2025	−75%
France	1997	2002	−50%
Greece	2000	2005	−20%
		2015	−40%
Ireland	1997	2002	−20%
Italy	1998–2000	2010	−40%
Malaysia	2001	2010	<3 deaths/10 000 vehicles
Netherlands	1998	2010	−30%
New Zealand	1999	2010	−42%
Poland	1997–1999	2010	−43%
Saudi Arabia	2000	2015	−30%
Sweden	1996	2007	−50%
United Kingdom	1994–1998	2010	−40%
United States	1996	2008	−20%
Source: WHO & World Bank (2004:Table 1.4).

GOVERNMENT OF BOTSWANA . 1997 . National development plan 8, 1997/98–2002/03 , Gaborone : Government Printer .

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GOVERNMENT OF BOTSWANA . 2006 . Stats brief, transport and communications statistics: 2004 , Gaborone : Central Statistics Office .

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GOVERNMENT OF BOTSWANA . 2001b . Statistical Bulletin , Gaborone : Central Statistics Office . 25(4)

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