Chronicle Editor
The festive season business has already started. Supermarkets as well as clothing, gift and furniture shops are running specials to boost sales.
Also, as we report elsewhere today, the great trek of Zimbabweans based in South Africa travelling back home for the festive season is now in full swing. As a result of the travelling from down south, Beitbridge Border Post is getting busier. The Department of Immigration says an average of 21 000 travellers inclusive of arrival and departures is being cleared at the border post daily, a rise that emerged beginning December 14 and expected to peak this weekend.
Locally, many businesses are shutting down for the Christmas and New Year holiday tomorrow. This marks the beginning of travelling by locally based citizens, many of whom are expected to drive or use public transport to their rural homes. Others will travel to tourist destinations dotted around the country to spend quality time, resting and celebrating Christmas Day on Wednesday next week and the beginning of the New Year a week later.
This is the time of the year when our roads are busiest, when supermarkets and other shops are busiest. They make much money too.
This year has been a difficult one for our people and because of that, the two weeks or so of resting, partying and holidaying is deserved.
However, unfortunately this is the time of the year when our roads are most dangerous. Drivers and other road users tend to be too excited and get involved in accidents, many fatal. Many urbanites tend to leave their homes unattended as they go for holidays. Youths get over-excited too, with some of them starting to experiment with drugs, alcohol and other intoxicants at this time of the year.
We want to urge drivers of public service vehicles and those of private vehicles to always uphold road rules and regulations. This means that they must not drink and drive; they must ensure that their vehicles are in good condition before they drive for long distances and they must not speed.
Motorists will definitely find a recent police statement useful.
“The festive season is upon us,” said national police spokesman, Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi.
“The ZRP makes a passionate appeal to members of the public to observe the country’s laws as they conduct various activities during the period. Firstly, we implore motorists to observe all traffic laws and regulations as they travel to different destinations. Motorists are urged to plan their journeys and avoid travelling during the night. We also entreat public service operators to avoid overburdening drivers by carrying out extra trips as fatigue will catch up with them, leading to accidents.
He added:
“Overloading and speeding are serious offences in terms of the law, hence we implore drivers and operators to be exemplary by being responsible on the roads. Drivers should also avoid driving while under the influence of alcohol as this often leads to accidents. Drivers should check the roadworthiness of their vehicles before embarking on journeys. Police will not hesitate to impound all defective and unroadworthy vehicles besides arresting all those who flout the rules of the road.”
We are very delighted that, probably for the first time in history, we are having a very high profile figure championing safe travelling this festive season.
First Lady Amai Auxillia Mnangagwa is working with the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe Republic Police to urge motorists and passengers to ensure safety on the roads this festive season to reduce carnage.
Early this week she spoke to passengers and drivers in Harare to mark the start of the road safety awareness campaign in the run-up to the festive season and visited four major roads tollgates leading to the capital to promote road safety.
For those who are leaving their urban for their rural homes, we urge them to make an effort to leave their properties under the watch of trusted relatives or friends. If they do not have trusted relatives and friends, they can alert their trusted neighbours that they would be away and request them to watch over their properties. If they don’t have trusted neighbours, they can take advantage of a police service under which they, upon request, provide surveillance over their properties during their absence. By taking these few steps, the holiday-goers can prevent burglaries on their properties.
As for youths who might be tempted to experiment with alcohol, drugs and other intoxicants this festive season, we advise them to shun these substances. Taking them might result in lifelong implications among them arrest, unintended pregnancies, contraction of sexually transmitted infections including the dreaded HIV, mental illnesses and other sicknesses.
They must just celebrate Christmas Day responsibly in the knowledge that their time to have sexual relationships or to drink alcohol will come at an appropriate time, a time when they will be physically, mentally and financially ready.
We look forward to a safe, crime-free and enjoyable Christmas and New Year holiday for all.
Online Reporter