Chronicle Editor
Hazel Marimbiza
January 2019, was a bad month for Mrs Leslie Sibanda. Sadly, the months that followed were more traumatic.
On the morning of Tuesday, January 29, she was folding laundry in her bedroom. While putting shirts in one wardrobe and jeans in another, she caught the end of her phone ringing in the sitting room. When she went to check it, she had missed a few calls. She picked it up as another unidentified call came through.
It was her mother on someone else’s phone. She told her that her 8-year-old son had been hit by a car and rushed to United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH).
She quickly headed to the hospital and waited for her son to arrive. A few minutes later he did. On a stretcher, in neck traction, covered in road rash, blood, dirt and grass.
He was scared and shocked. She was too.
Medical professionals swarmed him while performing orchestrated protocols, each one having a specific job to do.
“All I wished for was that his brain and spine were fine. Everything else could be fixed. I saw his toes move. The body scan showed that everything looked fine. Except his leg. His left thigh bone,” she narrated.
Mrs Sibanda got the full story later that day.
Her son went across the street to buy ice cream. He was spending the weekend with his grandmother in Hillside suburb, Bulawayo.
“Just after he had bought the ice cream he got back on the road without noticing a speeding car approaching. My mother saw the car coming, and yelled something, but it was rather late. He couldn’t see the car. He was yelling at his grandmother in excitement showing her the ice cream while she was yelling at …,” tears started trickling down Mrs Sibanda’s cheeks before she could finish.
Her mother, Mrs Nokuthula Nzima volunteered to finish off.
“He got knocked down by the speeding car. His head, hands and back had the worst abrasions. He seemed to be doing pretty well until he complained of headaches. Sadly the weeks that followed he died,” said Mrs Nzima.
Mrs Sibanda’s son represents several other children who are run over by reckless drivers in the country.
According to the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe (TSCZ), the lockdown period has seen an increase in traffic. Most children have been noted to be playing in neighbourhoods, making them more at risk of being hit by cars.
Research indicates that children are at risk of road traffic injuries or deaths for a number of reasons. Children are limited by their physical, cognitive and social development, making them more vulnerable in road traffic than adults. Because of their small stature, it can be difficult for children to see surrounding traffic and for drivers and others to see them. In addition if they are involved in a road traffic crash, their softer heads make them more susceptible to serious head injury than adults.
Children may also have difficulties interpreting various sights and sounds, which may impact on their judgment regarding the proximity, speed and direction of moving vehicles. Children may also be impulsive, and their short attention spans mean that they struggle to cope with more than one challenge at a time.
It is against this background that, TSCZ information, communication and technical manager Mr Tatenda Chinoda, recently warned parents and guardians to make sure children stay at home, or to accompany them if they want to go out during this lockdown period.
“We continue to be concerned about vehicular-pedestrian collisions. In this season of lockdown we realise that now our children are not in schools; they are in the streets – in neighborhoods where they live. We find our children are mixing with vehicular traffic and the risk is very high that our children will be run over by the vehicles. So our encouragement is for pedestrians to always be on the lookout. Always stay alert.
As the children move up and down it has got to be an essential movement.
“The children need someone to be able to guide them on safe places to play. Where are your children playing during this indefinite lock down? Why are they out there on the roads? The roads are not safe places to play. With increased movement of vehicular traffic there is also increased chances that our pedestrians who are our children are run over. Trips like going to buy vegetables, going to the tuck-shop, or to buy sugar must be planned. If there is no adult accompaniment we are in trouble. Road safety is a collective responsibility,” said Mr Chinoda.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), of all the children injured or killed on the roads worldwide each year, 38 percent are pedestrians. In the low- and middle-income countries where these fatalities most often occur, children walk along roads where there is a mixture of different modes of transport – some moving at high speed – and where infrastructure such as sidewalks, cross walks and safety barriers is lacking.
Globally, around 186 300 children under 18 years die from road traffic crashes annually, and road traffic injuries are the leading killer of children aged 15-17 years worldwide.
Statistics supplied by the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) and also verified by the TSCZ show that most children have been injured on the roads owing to driver negligence.
What has been most argued is who should be blamed when children die or suffer injuries due to road accidents? Is this a result of the minors’ or the motorists’ ignorance?
There are many responses to this question, but what has become clear is that public transport drivers have become reckless as they allegedly disregard the rules of the road.
Last year in January two children were injured in Masvingo when a car went off the road and rammed into a tree where the children were playing.
Suspicions were that the 22-year old driver was speeding on a slippery road. To add salt to injury he had not been authorised by his parents to drive.
As such Mr Chinoda said children’s plight is further worsened by unauthorised reckless drivers especially during this strict lockdown guidelines period.
“There is a bad tendency among members of a peer group, work mates or family members to have someone driving the vehicle without the owner authorising them. The person who drives a car while unauthorised always has fear of being caught by the owner and this fear could lead to him to cause accidents”, said Mr Chinoda.
Early this year, Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Monica Mutsvangwa, lashed out at drivers’ recklessness on the roads.
“You wonder if some of the drivers are licensed with the way they drive their vehicles. The media should play an important role in reducing road carnage. Defensive driving and proper training is a must,” she said.
Minister Mutsvangwa called on the media to expose bad behaviour by drivers on national roads to improve on the motoring public’s consciousness.
There are numerous cases recorded by the ZRP of negligent drivers who put the lives of children in danger. What further puts the lives of children at risk is that some of these reckless drivers are holders of fake licences.
Two months back the public was shocked when police busted a syndicate specialising in creating fake drivers licences after arresting a 21-year-old Pumula East woman. Bulawayo provincial police spokesperson Inspector, Abednico Ncube revealed that the syndicate which reportedly involved officers from the Central Vehicle Registry (CVR) was charging US$100 for a Class Two licence and US$85 for a Class Four licence.
Many people showed their disgust at this on Facebook and called for the Government to deal harshly with such criminals.
Mrs Angel Shamva took the opportunity to share her grief with the world.
“These are the people who hit our children on the roads. My 11-year-old child now has a permanent broken leg after being hit by an unqualified driver. Her life will never be the same again,” wrote Mrs Shamva.
“These people should not be easily let go, they should be examples of what happens when one breaks the law. It is so painful when a healthy child becomes disabled due to an incompetent driver. Our children’s lives are in danger,” she added.
Mr Robert Seedat responded to Mrs Shamva’s comment by admitting that a lot is expected from drivers. He also shared how a child almost died because he was speeding.
“My car swerved, out of control. The moment the car hit the child on the roadside I assumed he was dead. Meanwhile, I could taste the blood pooling in my mouth. I could feel it grazing my teeth and soaking my tongue. I felt the aching and cracks in my bones. Each crack felt like rocks were burrowing into my skin. I felt like I was there for hours, fading and waking and fading and waking.
“Later I was told the child I had hit was badly injured. I could not enjoy my sleep until that child was fine. Life is precious, let’s be careful on the roads and preserve children’s lives,” said Mr Seedat.
Mrs Samukeliso Nyoni concurred on the need for drivers to exercise caution but said people were also going through other difficulties of not being given a licence unless they bribe the people at Vehicle Inspection Department (VID).
“My apologies over what happened to your child,” Mrs Nyoni wrote addressing Mrs Shamva. “But not everyone who is reckless at driving is ‘unqualified’. There are lots of ‘qualified’ drivers without licences. Likewise there are ‘unqualified’ drivers with licences. VID people want bribes so people end up resorting to other means in order to acquire the licences.”
She urged Government to protect citizens from victimisation by VID authorities.
With road traffic accidents continuously killing and injuring children annually, what is clear is that a concerted effort is required to decisively deal with the carnage instead of blaming one group or another as children continuously fall victim in the accidents.
The Zimbabwe Passengers Association (ZPA) secretary, Mr Paul Makiwa said that prioritising child traffic safety education will reduce the number of accidents.
“Traffic safety education is very necessary for minors. It is very difficult to train an older person, thus it will be better to catch them while they are still young,” he said.
The First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa’s efforts in creating safety awareness campaigns are applaudable.
Speaking in her campaign last year which was in conjunction with TSCZ and the ZRP she called for unity in ending road crashes.
“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,” she said.
The First Lady spoke at length about accident prevention and said traffic crashes were preventable since they are mostly caused by driver faults.
Road traffic injuries and deaths of children can be prevented. While no single measure adequately addresses the vast range of risks to children on the road, strategies like controlling speed, reducing drinking and driving, using helmets for bicyclists and motorcyclists, restraining children in vehicles, improving children’s ability to see and be seen, enhancing road infrastructure, adapting vehicle design and implementing graduated driver licensing are best known – especially when implemented as a package – to keep children safe on the road.
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