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Lungile Tshuma
The festive season has always been turned bloody as hundreds lose their lives. A time which is supposed to be for merry-making has been turned into mourning because accidents claim hundreds of lives who will be travelling in different parts of the country.This year’s festive season has started on a bloody note a signal that it can be worse as the season reaches its peak. At this moment, some might be indicating that accidents are caused by stray animals but the truth is that as the time passes by, drivers will be the major cause of accidents.
Recently, a Pathfinder luxury coach allegedly hit a stray cow and had a head-on collision with a haulage truck killing six people. Many other accidents have been recorded across the country, a sign that more lives might be lost during this holiday.
This marks a bad beginning of what people must enjoy being with their families and friends. In the past, most of the accidents have been caused by stray animals, fatigue among drivers, speeding and reckless driving, which include failure to follow road signs. Of all these causes, police and the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe have been and are still spearheading an accident free holiday campaign, but the results are still pathetic. Cases of accidents remain high.
Speeding and reckless driving has been the major cause of accidents. The reason is that drivers of public transport will want to make more money hence they think using their pockets not their brains. During the festive season where most people will be travelling, drivers will want to maximise the opportunity by speeding so that they can take as many trips as they can.
With that, passengers should now take charge of their destiny and have the power to order the driver to slow down and in the event of the driver refusing to comply, they must demand to be dropped.
It must be clear to people that police officers cannot be able to be on every corner of the highways so the best person to guard against drivers are the passengers themselves. It is passengers who should complain when a driver is driving recklessly or is speeding. As much as the speed thrills but the end result is that thrilling results in death so passengers should not allow drivers to put their lives at risk.
Passengers should not be passive as it does not yield instead it kills. Silence kills hence for this festive season people should not be afraid of telling the driver to drive at a safe speed. For this festive season, the country deserves better and cases of accidents should be lowered if not an accident free holiday.
Most drivers have a tendency of using routes which are not designed for vehicles as they will be running away from road blocks. In such scenarios people should strongly refuse to take a wrong route and insists to be dropped as there is a high risk of an accident.
In business they say the customer is the king, but how can it be a king when people’s lives are in danger? Most drivers have failed to take police advice hence passengers should now play a pivotal role in ensuring that they arrive alive.
The person behind the wheel is the one who has the full mandate of ensuring that people have a safe journey but if that person fails, the one being driven should take charge. Most people are now afraid of travelling during the festive season as they fear for their lives yet there is a possibility of passengers controlling the driver.
Motorists should therefore ensure that they do not put people’s lives in danger by always driving at a safe speed. Innocent lives are being lost every day as a result of reckless driving. The driver’s licence they have indicates that they can drive well hence it should not be abused as people’s lives are far more precious than their metal licence.
During this festive season, some become over excited to an extent that they drive under the influence of alcohol. Such “madness” and disease should stop. It does not pay to drive under the influence of alcohol. There must be a heavy fine for those who will be caught driving under the influence of alcohol.
Some accidents are caused by fatigue as some drivers will be driving as late as 1 or 2am, a time where most people will be enjoying their dreams. In such cases, drivers sleep on the wheel, veer of the road which might result in a head-on collision. Therefore, transport owners should also stop the tendency of overworking their drivers, as that leads to accidents and loss of lives.
It is still worrying that the country continues to record an increase in road accidents despite the heavy presence of police on the highways. Most of the accidents have been blamed on human error while in a few other cases; the accidents were due to defective vehicles.
Since accidents are caused by human error, the same human should too correct that error. Drivers must at this juncture be responsible and ensure that they bear in mind that their passengers are as good as their brothers, sisters and parents. Therefore, how can they kill their own parents, brothers and sisters?
As indicated earlier, poor condition of vehicles has been blamed for road accidents. Despite unroadworthy vehicles being responsible for many people’s death, traffic police officers have been blamed for allowing these defective vehicles to pass through roadblocks after being paid bribes. Corruption should therefore be nipped in the bud because it puts people’s lives in danger.
This message of encouraging drivers to drive safely and observe rules of the game, driving, will continue to be spread and emphasised as people’s lives are treasured.
Passengers should now take charge of their destiny.
Online Reporter