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Story pictures by Obey Sibanda
THE Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe says most road accidents are caused by a number of factors including speeding, misjudgment or inattention, overtaking error, failure to give way, following too close, reversing error, obstruction on the road way, tyre bursts, negligent pedestrians or cyclists, animals and fatigue.
Below are some of the possible factors in pictures:
Reckless driving
When you are driving your car, red means stop and not doing so usually leads to car accidents. Drivers that run red lights, run the risk of causing wrongful death because they often cause side-impact collisions at high speeds.
Watch out at intersections as many accidents happen here. Always slow down and look both ways at intersections. Do not assume the other vehicles will stop just because the light is red. There is always someone trying to get through the intersection during a yellow light.
Poor road infrastructure
Dangerous road conditions are a significant contributor of accidents. The latest spell of bad weather has made it more difficult for many of road users to simply get from A to B.
Motorists in Zimbabwe are well aware of the dangers posed by potholes in the street. Drivers run the risk of losing control of their car or blowing out a tyre when they drive over these potholes. If you see a pothole in your car’s path, you can avoid a car accident by making sure that your tyres do not drive over it.
Destructed driving
The number one cause of car accidents is not a criminal that drove drunk, sped or ran a red light. A distracted driver is a motorist that diverts his or her attention from the road, usually to talk on a cell phone, send a text message or eat food.
The above driver neglect the primary objective of safe driving endangering his life and those of other road users.
Weather conditions
If the weather gets bad so do the roads. Car accidents happen very often in the rain because water creates slick and dangerous surfaces for cars, trucks, and motorcycles and often causes automobiles to spin out of control or skid while braking. To avoid a car accident, the driver needs to be extra careful when it rains.
Rain reduces driver perception in several ways and is especially debilitating at night. It both directly affects perception (seeing through rain) but also produces visibility changes through its action on headlamps, windshields, the road itself and road markings. Road surfaces deteriorate in rain Potholes are everywhere and it is practically impossible to avoid all the potholes as quite often one preventive maneuver often leads the driver into yet other potholes.
Failure to give way
The reason that we have stop signs and turn signals is because when drivers ignore the rules of the road, car accidents are often the result. To prevent a car accident, always look for signs and obey the proper right-of-way before you make a turn.
Online Reporter