Chronicle Editor
MOST companies are closing for the Christmas festivities on Thursday this week. On Friday Zimbabwe will be commemorating Unity Day so it will be a public holiday.
Those travelling for Christmas festivities start travelling on Thursday while those working in neighbouring countries such as South Africa and Botswana have started arriving in the country for the Christmas festivities.
Increased traffic on our roads is therefore expected this weekend when people travel to different destinations across the country to join families and relatives ahead of the Christmas Day on Monday.
It is during such public holidays that the country has in the past witnessed increased road traffic accidents. Most of the accidents are due to speeding, overloading, drunken driving and reckless behaviour on the roads hence the need for the police to rigorously enforce traffic rules and regulations to tame this traffic jungle.
There is a need for increased road blocks on the country’s major highways as from Thursday until the end of the Christmas and New Year festivities.
Those that decide to drink and drive should be locked up until they are sober enough to drive.
Government has already warned public transporters that it will not hesitate to withdraw operators’ licences of those that violate traffic rules and regulations. It urged the police to arrest all transgressors of road traffic laws and refer them for prosecution without fear or favour.
Government said police should ensure unroadworthy vehicles are removed from the roads.
Last month 22 people were killed when a Toyota Quantum was involved in a head-on collision with a truck at the 27km-peg along the Bulawayo-Beitbridge Highway. The accident happened a few days after two other accidents that killed nine people.
President Mnangagwa said after the accidents that there is an urgent need to take measures to arrest the needless loss of lives on our roads.
The President appealed to motorists to exercise maximum caution on the roads for their safety and that of fellow road users.
It has been established that more than 80 percent of traffic accidents recorded on our roads are as a result of human error which means they can be avoided. We should therefore all strive for an accident-free Christmas holiday by observing all traffic rules and regulations.
Online Reporter