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statement at Makuti when he commissioned the Makuti clinic that caters for accident victims. The Traffic Safety Council that operates under his ministry refurbished an old disused building at Makuti in response to the requests by locals.
Ninety percent of road traffic accidents are caused by human error, a development Minister Goche said was unacceptable.
He also handed over an ambulance to the Kariba district traffic consultative committee that would be used to carry accident victims along the Karoi to Chirundu and Makuti to Kariba highway.
The community requested the facilities following repeated fatal accidents on a spot 10km after Makuti towards Chirundu that has been dubbed “Wafa Wafa” because of the high number of fatal accidents that occur at the place.
Police records show that 147 accidents were recorded between January and September 2012 compared to 96 for the same period in 2011.
Between January and April this year 48 accidents that caused 56 injuries have been recorded against 73 accidents and 53 injuries for the same period last year.
Eight deaths have been recorded since January.
Minister Goche thanked the Traffic Safety Council for responding posively to the request made by the Makuti people through the district consultative committee.
“Makuti is a high accident zone with one of the most dangerous blackspots infamously called Wafa-Wafa between the 301 and 303km peg along the Harare-Chirundu road,” he said.
He said high accidents translate to high number of human injuries requiring proper medical attention.
He said the clinic will not only serve the Makuti community but the whole of Zimbabwe and the entire Sadc region as local and foreign tourists using the road would also require medical attention at the clinic.
In the past accident victims had to be carried to either Kariba or Karoi and both are over 70km away. Ambulances had to be summoned from those areas as well.
Minister Goche said his ministry will continue to enforce measures that help reduce road accidents through safety campaigns, replacing and upgrading old infrastructure, defensive driving courses, replacing road signs and marking carriageway markings, widening roads and introducing stiffer penalties for road traffic offences.
He said road signs in Zimbabwe would be upgraded to regional and international standards.
The clinic will also cater for other health conditions including malaria. The Makuti area records high malaria cases.
The clinic building was made available by the tsetse control unit.
Dr Timothy Stamps and several senior Government officials attended the ceremony.
Dr Stamps has persistently campaigned for safety on the roads.
Traffic safety ambassadors musician Amai Olivia Charamba and soccer legend David Mandigora also attended the ceremony.
Online Reporter