900 perish in road crashes

Tedious Manyepo Herald Reporter
AT least 930 people have been killed in 22 259 road traffic accidents recorded across the country between January and July this year.

The figure represents an increase in the number of road deaths as 806 were killed in the corresponding period last year in 22 591 incidents reported. About 4 222 people were injured during the period under review.

Speaking on the sidelines of a media workshop organised by the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe in Harare yesterday, the managing director Mr Obio Chinyere said it was disheartening to note that of all the crashes recorded up to July, about 94 percent of them were a result of human error.

“It is very disheartening to continue losing lives on the roads due to human error. An average of 5 people die in road traffic accidents every day and of these, 94 percent are a result of human error.

“I would like to urge drivers to be always on the lookout and be alert at all times. We are in a Decade of Action for Road Safety which seeks to reduce deaths by 50 percent by the year 2020.

“Play your part and take defensive driving course as together we can reduce road carnage,” he said. Mr Chinyere said it was time drivers took full responsibility of their actions on the road if the country was to fully eradicate road carnage. It is widely believed that bad state of the country’s roads is contributing to the ever-increasing accidents, but statistics have actually proven otherwise.

“Some will always rush to blame the road, but statistics have actually proven that the worst crashes recorded across the country this year, occurred on the newly rehabilitated Harare-Bulawayo Highway,” said Mr Chinyere.

He urged motorists to avoid driving defective vehicles. Several efforts to get a comment from the police were fruitless yesterday. Chief Superintendent Paul Nyathi referred all questions to police chief spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba. She did not answer her mobile phone, neither did she respond to questions sent to her by the time of going to print.