Online Reporter
THE Beitbridge bus accident, in which 25 people died last week, affected all of us.
Yesterday, we carried a disturbing story in which it was revealed that driver of the bus, which was involved in that horror accident along the Masvingo-Beitbridge highway, had not undergone mandatory retesting as demanded by the law.
The bus did not have a valid Passenger Insurance Policy.
This has been revealed by Government investigations into the crash.
The Government has now suspended the operating licence of Urban Connect Holdings (Pvt) Ltd with immediate effect.
The Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development, Felix Mhona, said investigations revealed that the company was in violation of several road traffic and safety regulations, including operating without a valid Passenger Insurance Policy and Route Permit.
He said the bus registration number AGL2474 did not have a valid Passenger Insurance Policy as prescribed under Section 38(b) (1) of the Road Traffic Act [Chapter 13:11].
The vehicle also did not have a valid Route Permit as prescribed in Section 12 of the Road Motor Transportation Act [Chapter 13:15].
Further investigations revealed that the driver of the bus had not undergone the mandatory retesting requirement in line with Section 5 of Statutory Instrument 168 of 2006.
He urged all road traffic law enforcement agencies to remain vigilant in ensuring compliance with safety regulations to prevent further tragedies.
That is a very key point because it’s very clear that if all the authorities had played their part this accident would not have happened.
We have road blocks all over the show and it should have been picked very early in its journey that the bus did not have the correct documents for it to undertake this trip.
Some analysts have said that these rogue operators always try to beat the system by ordering their drivers to undertake these trips during the night when there are fewer roadblocks and police on the roads.
If that is the case then we expect authorities to respond to ensure that there is enough police presence on our roads, during the night, to ensure that these rogue operators do not take a chance with the lives of our people.
Everything was wrong with this trip – the driver had not undergone retesting as should be the case, the bus did not have a permit for this route and it did not have the insurance cover as per the law.
These are occasions when we feel that the Government should ensure that the full force of the law is applied, especially to such rogue bus operators.
Prosecuting them and holding them accountable for the deaths of all these passengers will be a step in the right direction.
They need to be accountable and if they have to go to jail to pay for their sins then so be it.
We believe that is important because it will send the right signal to other bus operators that they will also be prosecuted if they try to cur corners.
