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bringing the festive season death toll to 143 compared to 72 deaths last year.Police launched the 30-day festive season campaign period against road carnage on 15 December and it runs until 15 January next year.
Police spokesperson, Superintendent Paul Nyathi yesterday said five people died in different accidents in Mashonaland West while Mashonaland East, Manicaland, Masvingo and Midlands Provinces recorded one death each, bringing the total number of people who died on Wednesday to nine.
“As at 9am on 27 December 2012, we have recorded 143 deaths due to accidents compared to 72 in 2011. A total of 872 accidents have been recorded while 788 people have been injured compared to 555 in 2011.
“We have issued 10 362 tickets and impounded 824 vehicles for various defects, which include worn out tyres, no head lights, lack of proper documents and permits,” said Supt Nyathi.
Supt Nyathi warned private motorists against ferrying passengers and evading from the police resulting in accidents.
“Some private motorists are in the habit of ferrying passengers from one place to the other, which is an offence.
“These motorists try to evade the police by using routes, which are unknown to the police resulting in accidents.
“I would like to strongly warn such motorists that police will not hesitate to deal with them accordingly,” said Supt Nyathi.
Manicaland Province still tops the list with 29 deaths from 81 accidents compared to five deaths from 58 accidents during the same period last year.
Mashonaland East Province is second having recorded 26 deaths from 41 accidents compared to 18 deaths from the same number of accidents last year.
Masvingo Province is third with 22 deaths from 54 accidents compared to eight deaths from 58 accidents last year.
Matabeleland North Province had a sharp increase in the number of deaths from two last year from 21 accidents to 18 deaths from 25 accidents this year.
Matabeleland South Province has recorded 13 deaths from 37 accidents compared to six deaths from 57 accidents last year.
Midlands Province has recorded 11 deaths from 96 accidents compared to 12 deaths from 85 accidents last year and Mashonaland West Province has recorded 12 deaths from 47 accidents compared to three deaths from 52 accidents last year.
Harare has recorded the highest number of accidents of 324 accidents resulting in 10 deaths compared to seven deaths from 285 accidents last year.
Bulawayo has recorded 111 accidents with three deaths compared to 123 accidents resulting in five deaths last year.
In a related incident, a 19-year-old man died, while another person was injured, when a tractor they were travelling in veered off the road and overturned when the driver of the tractor tried to avoid a pothole.
The accident, which was confirmed by the Matabeleland South police spokesperson Inspector Billie Dube, occurred at about 3pm on Christmas Day.
Insp Dube said the tractor was travelling from Silver Stream towards Nyamandlovu with three passengers on board.
“The tractor had three passengers on board and was travelling towards Nyamandlovu. On approaching the 14km peg, the driver of the tractor, Ntandoyenkosi Nkomo (19) tried to avoid a pothole and the tractor veered off the road to the right and overturned once before it landed on its left side,” said Insp Dube.
“Nkomo got trapped underneath the tractor and died on the spot while a passenger, Ocean Sibanda (19) was injured.”
Insp Dube said Sibanda was taken to Nyamandlovu District Hospital while Nkomo’s body was taken to Mpilo Central Hospital for a postmortem.
Insp Dube appealed to motorists to be cautious on the roads to avoid unnecessary loss of lives.
Online Reporter