The paper presents the pedestrian's situation in Botswana's road system.

Following a brief overview of the safety situation the statistics concerning

pedestrian casualties are detailed. It is found that ca 65 percent of the

accidents occur when pedestrians cross the streets. The author discusses

several reasons for both the high accident rates and the high proportion of

accidents occurring when pedestrians cross the street. Among the causes the

inadequate provision for pedestrians in the road network in rural and urban

centres are pointed out together with deficiencies in land use planning and

road user education. Furthermore, driver competency and attitude and the

failure of the Botswana's Road Traffic Act to discourage dangerous and

reckless driving are contributing factors. The author lists several measures

to be taken in order to overcome the problems but also recognise for Botswana

and other third world countries most of these measures are in the "pipeline"

and may not be the most prioritised.