adminZIMBABWEANS, just like others around the world, will, starting this Friday, celebrate the Easter holiday. This is a Holy Week in which Christians commemorate the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
There are many interpretations on the significance of Easter, but the common denominator underlining the importance of Easter is that it is a basis of the Christian faith, founded in the resurrection of Jesus. And the resurrection established Jesus as the powerful Son of God.
Thus God has given Christians “a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”. Therefore, Christians, through faith in the working of God, are spiritually resurrected with Jesus so that they may walk in a new way of life. While many Zimbabweans will be congregating at different churches to reflect and remember the good works of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, others take this opportunity to travel far and wide to rural areas and resort centres, to relax and merry make with family members and friends. Some find this occasion appropriate to be joined in matrimony, while others simply relax at home.
But over the years, the Easter Holiday has proved to be a dark period, where we have woken up to chilling news headlines of fatal road traffic accidents that have claimed precious lives. What is most painful is the fact that some of the accidents would have been avoidable, had necessary precautions been taken. Families have found themselves spending the rest of the Easter holiday grieving and burying loved ones.
The major causes of public transport accidents, according to the police, are mainly human error, mechanical faults and poor nature of roads. Human error is the number one cause (about 90 percent), while the rest, namely, mechanical faults, the poor nature of the road, take the remaining 10 percent of motor accidents. Needless to say, human error in this context refers to driver’s error. It is against this that we urge the police to deploy full throttle on our roads and bring sanity to any lawlessness.
The role of the passenger in road safety should not be ignored. We believe the three main actors in the arena of safe public transportation are the police, the driver and the passenger. The three should complement one another for safety on our roads. More often we hear of passengers fighting among themselves for the simple reason that one of them feels uncomfortable about the speed at which the driver is driving, which evidently is rather high. Sadly, instead of the rest of the passengers supporting him or her so the driver can reduce speed, they rather encourage him to speed.
Such a development is unhealthy. Caution is never misplaced advice. We should not forget that the sensible one sees trouble ahead and avoids it, but the one who is unthinking will walk right into it. Evidence abounds the world over and in Zimbabwe in particular, that prompt intervention by many a passenger has prevented in no small measure fatal road accidents from occurring on the roads. The point is that when the driver sees that the very passengers he is conveying are collectively monitoring his performance, he will be conscious to do the right thing. The fact is, if a driver comes to realise that his performance behind the steering wheel is being monitored and, more important, that his being allowed to continue as a driver depends on the appraisal by the passengers on board his vehicle, it will prick his conscience to do the right thing throughout a journey. We simply cannot watch unconcerned and allow innocent people to be killed through avoidable road accidents and not do anything to arrest the situation. Honestly, trying to find solutions to the carnage on our roads during times like the Easter Holiday through innovative ways should be the preoccupation of all concerned citizens of this country. .
The moment one steps into a vehicle, whether public or private, it brings home the stark reality that an accident is a probability and that all should be on guard.
Online Reporter