adminIn an interview on Tuesday, PDA national chairman Mr Albert Sibanda bemoaned the sorry state of the roads saying they were poor and narrow, making it difficult for drivers to manoeuvre as a result of traffic congestion.
“I wish to highlight points of concern on the occurrence of accidents so that we do not have similar experience of people losing their lives on our roads randomly.
“Some factors that might contribute to similar accidents include poor road markings which make it difficult for drivers to judge overtaking near bends and narrow blind rise roads,” said Mr Sibanda.
Early this month, seven people died, five on the spot when an overloaded vehicle they were travelling in burst a right rear tyre on the 43-kilometre peg along the Mvuma-Gweru road.
Seven more were killed while 44 others were seriously injured last Thursday when a Botswana-bound bus they were travelling in veered off the road and overturned in Mbembesi along the Bulawayo-Gweru road.
At the moment, 18 deaths have since been recorded from the Nyanga commuter omnibus mishap on Sunday morning.
Mr Sibanda also urged drivers to desist from impressing customers and their employers by speeding at the expense of people’s lives.
“This must stop with immediate effect as it has become a culture in the driving industry,” said Mr Sibanda.
He also attributed the accidents to fatigue by drivers as sometimes they travelled for long distances without having proper rest.
“We encourage a law to be enacted so that drivers in public service vehicles travel in pairs so they are able to relieve each other when one feels tired,” said Mr Sibanda.
He proposed that a law be enacted to curb this culture.
“Drivers must perform their duties of being custodians of human lives on our roads without being incited by passengers or their crews to speed,” said Mr Sibanda.
According to statistics by the police, the death toll of last year’s festive season stood at 76 in different parts of the country while 606 people were injured in 844 accidents.
National police spokesperson Superintendent Andrew Phiri said most accidents were as a result of human error.
“As the police, we have always said that most accidents are caused by human error because the drivers know that the roads are not perfect and it is up to drivers to exercise caution on poor roads,” said Supt Phiri.
He said the attitude by drivers was responsible for the accidents.
“We agree that the roads are not good, but the drivers know that as well so their attitude remains central in averting accidents,” said Supt Phiri.
Online Reporter