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Columbus Mabika Herald Reporter
Automobile experts have called on Government to enforce Statutory Instrument 129 of 2015 that compels passenger service vehicles, lorries and haulage trucks to be fitted with speed limiting devices in order to reduce accidents and carnage.
The call comes after a spike in road traffic accidents that have claimed a lot of lives in recent months with the latest being last week when 20 people were killed after a Toyota Granvia burst a tyre and collided head-on with a Toyota Wish at the 61km peg along Masvingo-Zvishavane Road near Chitowa business centre just after Mhandamabwe.
Statutory Instrument 129 of 2015 (64) (2) states that; “No person shall drive on any road a passenger public service vehicle or a heavy vehicle with a net mass of 4 600kg or more, unless one of the following speed monitoring or speed limiting devices is fitted to the vehicle (a) a tachograph (b) a tacho-log (c) vehicle data recorder (d) fleet manager (e) co-driver (f) any other speed monitoring or speed limiting device which the Minister, after consultation with the Standards Association of Zimbabwe may publish in the Gazette.”
Mr Tendai Mujuru, a speed limiter device expert with Sytech Africa told The Herald that human life was vital hence the need to preserve it.
He said once the law is enforced it will reduce accidents by 60 percent.
“Just like in any society, human life and health is valued so highly there is a special obligation to use our scientific abilities to bring the problem of highway traffic safety under control. There is no doubt that the recent Masvingo disaster was due to speeding given the severity of the crash the injuries sustained by the victims and the fatality rate. Speed is a risk factor for road traffic deaths and injuries,” he said.
“This has been a long-overdue move. It is now time the law that requires all public service vehicles to be fitted with the device be enforced, that can help save thousands of lives.”
Mr Mujuru said scientific research had shown that 90 percent of road traffic crashes are a result of human error due to speeding.
He called on the Government to extent the Statutory Instrument to private vehicles saying nations that have implemented speed limiters have reduced the number crashes and the severity of crashes upon occurrence thus reduced injuries and fatalities which is a major step towards zero death by 2050.
Another expert with Vehicle Technologies Zimbabwe, Mr Marshall Mapfuva said it was disappointing that despite warnings, road carnage due to speeding was still high.
“It is high time that Government makes it mandatory for all passenger service vehicles, lorries and haulage trucks to have speed limiting devices. This will prevent avoidable accidents that are due to speeding and negligence such as the bus accident that recently happened near Mhandamabwe,” he said.
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