adminThe statistics speak for themselves. By the end of this year’s Easter holiday Zimbabwe has lost 50 lives while 273 were injured in 424 road traffic accidents (The Herald, 3 April 2013).
Zimbabweans have been recorded in the media to be the worst drivers in the aSouthern Hemisphere. Honestly speaking, this is not a good record at all. With the Easter death toll still lingering in our minds, it is important that we all take stock of our individual contributions towards making our road traffic experience a lot safer for ourselves and for everyone.
This year’s Easter was the bloodiest and the same as last year’s Christmas.
We are inching towards the country’s Independence Day celebrations and the same record cannot be accepted. I mean, what is it worth to lose lives due to reckless behaviour on and off the road.
According to the police, the major causes of road traffic accidents include speeding, fatigue, overtaking errors, drunken driving, inattention, use of cellphone, following too closely among other causes.
Moreover, the police are engaged in running battles with unlicensed transport operators who are ferrying passengers without the right documentation.
While it is true that desperate times call for desperate measures, some of these vehicles are not designed for the transport business hence the high prevalence of your Toyota Ipsums, Spacios, Gaias and other such vehicles being involved in accidents.
Recent media reports captured a Toyota Ipsum which was involved in a head-on collision with a bus along the Harare-Masvingo Road during the holiday.
The accident occurred at around 11pm near the 220km peg. These pirate taxis covering the length and breadth of Zimbabwe are playing cat and mouse games with the police and because of that they are most likely to make terrible life-threatening mistakes, both on and off the road.
Off the road and because they are illegal operators the vehicles are not tested regularly for fitness as they should be, the drivers are most likely not to have taken safety tests and they is no passenger insurance on the vehicles.
On the road, drivers go out of their way to avoid the law to the extent of driving under the cover of darkness, where a majority of road hazards are found, like animals, potholes and broken down vehicles. These vehicles should clearly be labelled, “RIDE AT YOUR OWN RISK” because there is no assurance one will get to their destination safely.
Last time we wrote about a family member who was involved in a car accident in Harare’s CBD.
The family is relieved that he is recovering very well in hospital. The situation could have been a lot worse if it weren’t for the medical staff that paid particular attention to his and other victims’ critical situation.
Others were, however, not that fortunate this Easter holiday. To me it became very clear that the medical staff in our various hospitals are very much involved in the fight to getting to zero road casualties on our roads as much as they are involved in getting to zero prevalence of the HIV/Aids pandemic.
It is as a result of these concerted efforts that we all believe that the Let’s Go Zero battle shall be won.
There is confidence amongst stakeholders and the general public that we shall someday witness zero harm to the environment, zero road traffic accidents, zero work-related accidents and zero HIV/Aids in Zimbabwe.
In the meantime, the call is on every citizen to live responsibly and act responsibly whether it is on the road, at work and at home.
Wherever you are and whatever you are doing, think about the consequences of your actions and any ripple effects that may arise from such.
Till next time . . . God bless.
l Robert Garai Muganda can be contacted on: Email: [email protected], Facebook: Let’s Go Zero; Mobile: 0772 714 233.
Online Reporter