admin
Hazel Marimbiza
FOR the next two weeks, national and religious public holidays define the “festive season” for many, but for some it will be a time of grief and mourning for family members killed in avoidable road accidents.
History has taught us that as we enter the festive season holidays, road accidents will almost inevitably escalate.
In diagnosing the problem on our roads, experts have concluded that among the many problems blighting our roads include the prevalence of incompetent drivers mainly in public service vehicles.
Statistics show that many lives are lost on the roads between December 15 and January 2 every year, hence the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe (TSCZ) has urged road users to adhere to safety rules during this festive season.
TSCZ communications officer Tatenda Chinoda said that major road accidents in Zimbabwe were caused by the negligence of road users, both pedestrians and motorists and not dilapidated roads as usually presumed.
Chinoda said regardless of the bad road networks in the country, most fatal accidents in Zimbabwe between 2018 and 2019 had occurred on the most navigable roads.
To help avoid road accidents during this festive season, Chinoda advised road users to improve their attitudes first before thinking about fixing the poor roads.
“Our roads are not the best, but on the best or highly navigable road from Plumtree to Mutare, we have recorded the highest fatalities,” Chinoda said.
He said most of the road accidents had been caused by the negligence of motorists who failed to obey basic traffic rules when approaching an intersection or curve.
“We have noticed that due to speeding, drivers have failed to negotiate curves, leading to accidents. These road accidents are a mere case of negligence by the drivers on who should go first, with the drivers failing to give way to each other,” said Chinoda.
He further said it was everyone’s responsibility to reduce accidents in Zimbabwe, saying pedestrians had of late been contributing to the occurrence of accidents.
“People no longer observe traffic laws, even using their cellphones while crossing busy roads.
“There are pedestrians who even compete with vehicles, intending to cross the road first. In the end, the most vulnerable person is the pedestrian,” Chinoda added.
Speaking during the launch of a safety awareness campaign last year, the First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa implored transporters to take extra care to ensure people’s lives entrusted in their hands are not lost through recklessness.
She also implored passengers to discourage drivers from speeding and to refuse boarding overloaded vehicles.
“We must all unite and champion road safety at all levels from families, villages, churches and workplaces. Each family, church or community must have distinguished road safety champions and play the profound brother’s keeper role.
“Gone is the era of blame game when road crashes occurred. Now is the time of taking greater concern, great responsibility and greatest accountability of our own actions as road users,” said Amai Mnangagwa.
According to the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), at least 138 people died in 1 518 road accidents during the three-week festive period from December 15, 2019 to January 6, 2020.
Police spokesperson Paul Nyathi said the major causes of accidents were speeding, reversing errors, following too close and inattention, and tyre bursts as a result of the searing temperatures.
“Despite several reminders that we made before the holidays for motorists to check tyres before commencing journeys, there was an increase in accidents that were caused by tyre bursts. It is clear that drivers did not take heed of the warning,” said Nyathi.
All these accidents unravel the tragedy of road accidents and show that Zimbabwe’s roads are fast becoming death snares.
As part of the reforms, the Passengers Association of Zimbabwe (PAZ) said passengers must have their say towards safety as well as related rights when travelling.
In a statement, Paul Makiwa, the PAZ secretary, said: “Road carnage is a series that we can no longer view as indifferent spectators. We must be involved as actors irrespective of whom we are; we all have a role to play.”
He added: “Passengers must learn to speak out when a driver is speeding or generally not driving according to road rules and regulations. The initial response is to control an errant driver and when he persists passengers can report to the police at the next roadblock.
They should also check whether the public service vehicle they are travelling on has the requisite papers. These papers include Road Fitness Certificate, Passenger Liability Insurance and of course, check if the vehicle has a licence.
Passengers must not be passengers to the hilt, they also should ensure that they have a say towards their safety and rights when travelling.”
Online Reporter