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NewsDay

AMH is an independent media house free from political ties or outside influence. We have four newspapers: The Zimbabwe Independent, a business weekly published every Friday, The Standard, a weekly published every Sunday, and Southern and NewsDay, our daily newspapers. Each has an online edition.

Rising road carnage unacceptable

Opinion & Analysis
Whatever statistics may be forwarded or the deteriorating condition of our roads, there is no justification for the rate at which fatal accidents continue to rise.

Whatever statistics may be forwarded or the deteriorating condition of our roads, there is no justification for the rate at which fatal accidents continue to rise.

This Easter holiday a total of 50 deaths were recorded – twice as many as were recorded during the same period last year. As many as 424 accidents were attended by the police during the official police holiday period running between March 25 and April 2.

This past Christmas holiday was also declared the bloodiest in years, claiming 143 lives compared to 72 the previous year – another statistical double!

Talk and more talk will not stop this carnage and this country should take serious measures to end this needless spillage of blood on our roads. The main reason for the accidents is human error which includes speeding, misjudgement, overtaking and turning errors. Even reversing errors are included.

Also to blame is the issue of vehicle defects for which culpability could easily be placed squarely on the shoulders of our traffic police who, for some reason, think that if they take bribes from drivers of defective vehicles, they should allow them to drive in in those death traps.

Road danger is a man-made crisis and, according to research by the International Organisation for Road Accidents Prevention, human error accounts for over 90% of accidents.

Zimbabweans should desist from seeking to blame our roads or traffic volumes for the rise in the deaths on our roads because research has also found that a road accident is a consequence of a break in the balance between the environmental demand and the driver’s ability to act. If we, for reasons we all know, have such a rotten road transport system, should we then resign ourselves to accepting that we have no choice, but to die on these roads? No, we just must behave in accordance with the situation presented to us. We cannot continue to want to do 180 km/hr on a road whose monicker Masvingo neCarpet is all but history and in reality is nothing short of a death trap!

Jose Miguel, chairman of the Portuguese Society for Road Accidents Prevention, says it is imperative to “increase the ability of the road users to act in accordance with the needs of the environment”.

The key, says another researcher, is focusing on the human element with the “objective of stimulating good (driving) behaviour.”

We need to see organisations such as the National Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe doing more work and being more visible in the fight against this human terror that is in our hands. It is good but not enough to have police playing public relations on the highways – giving lectures to drivers that give them half an ear because they are in a hurry to continue with their journey.

There is real need for the Transport ministry and other stakeholders in road safety to realise that we are going down a steep slope from where we may never be able to turn back.

Statistics that over 1,3 million people die in road accidents worldwide every year should give authorities and every driver a sobering thought.

There are 3 500 deaths a day or 150 every hour, and nearly three people get killed on the road every minute!