31 killed in holiday accidents

Patrick Chitumba Senior Reporter
A TOTAL of 31 people have died in road accidents across the country since the start of the festive season, police spokesperson, Chief Superintendent Paul Nyathi, said yesterday. The festive season period starts from December 15 to January 15.

Chief Supt Nyathi said the number of people who have been killed is the same as that of last year at the same period.

He said as of yesterday morning, they had recorded 515 road traffic accidents as compared to 470 recorded in the previous year.

“A total of 31 people have died in road traffic accidents throughout the country. That is the same number of people who died from accidents last year,” he said.

Chief Supt Nyathi said Masvingo was leading in terms of fatalities as so far 10 people had died in that province.

He said Matabeleland South province was second after recording seven deaths.

“Mashonaland East recorded four deaths, Harare has three, Bulawayo two, Midlands two, Mashonaland Central, Matabeleland North and Manicaland one each, Mashonaland West zero,” said Chief Supt Nyathi.

He said 262 people had been injured in the accidents as compared to 138 last year.

Police have impounded 1,239 unroadworthy vehicles to date.

“We have issued 52,150 tickets for various road traffic offences,” said Chief Supt Nyathi.

He attributed most of the accidents to human error.

Chief Supt Nyathi urged drivers to give way when approaching road junctions while keeping a proper outlook for oncoming traffic.

“The major cause of the accidents is speeding, overtaking errors where drivers are making errors and overtaking at wrong points on the roads and failing to maintain proper attention on the road,” said Chief Supt Nyathi.

He said the police would maintain a heavy presence on the country’s roads to dissuade reckless driving.

“Drivers should play their part in curbing carnage on our roads by following traffic rules and regulations,” he said.

Professor Sara Feresu, director of the Institute of Environmental Studies at the University of Zimbabwe recently told participants at a media workshop on transport and environmental science technology that 58 people were dying per 100,000 and 30 percent of people who die are young people.

“We need to raise awareness among the people to reduce the risk of deaths and injuries on the road. As Zimbabweans, we don’t have patience on the roads. We just zoom across red robots and speed excessively. Young people are drinking excessively and speeding,” Prof Feresu said.

Researchers predict the number of people killed in traffic accidents will rise from the present figures if no urgent action is taken.

Police statistics indicate that a total of 2,094 deaths and 14,965 injuries were recorded last year in 30,911 traffic accidents countrywide.

Researchers say although road accidents are rated 12th on the causes of death in Zimbabwe, they fear that by 2020 they may overtake HIV and Aids if no action is taken to improve road safety in the country.