Police, road safety campaigns hailed

Lisa Shirichena  Herald reporter
A 50 percent drop in the number of road fatalities recorded over this year’s Easter holidays has been attributed to heavy police presence on the country’s major highways and massive road safety campaigns.Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe (TSCZ) managing director Mr Obio Chinyere told The Herald that the police and his organisation had noted with delight that road users had taken heed of the road safety campaign messages.

“We are happy that road fatalities halved this Easter due to massive campaigns and we want to thank road users for driving cautiously on our roads,” he said.

Police said the number of road fatalities recorded over this year’s Easter holiday went down by almost 50 percent as compared to the same period last year.

However, the number of accidents increased from 206 in 2014 to 283 this year while 10 people died in separate road accidents between April 3 and 6 compared to 19 fatalities last year

Coach and Bus Operators Association head Mr Alex Kautsiro hailed the police and the TSCZ for rolling out road safety campaigns which helped to cut road carnage by half over the Easter holiday.

He said the low volume of traffic on the country’s major highways also contributed to the fall in the number of road deaths.

“Unlike past Easter holidays, there was low traffic on our major trunk roads something which played a major role in reducing traffic accidents,” he said.

Mr Chinyere appealed to motorists and public transport drivers to maintain the same road safety standards set over the Easter holiday during the coming Independence holiday period.

He urged motorists to avoid night driving, speeding, drunk driving and to observe traffic regulations.

Mr Kautsiro also said, motorists should remember that it is imperative for everyone to take extra caution in order to continue reducing the number of accidents.

Last year 30 people died in 287 road accidents recorded during Easter and Independence holidays countrywide. The majority of the accidents were due to speeding and human error.