The festive period is a time that brings with it a lot of excitement as people spend time with family and friends.
Despite the economic hardships, many people still use this time to travel especially to their rural homes while those based in neighbouring countries, also return home.
Already there has been a marked increase in traffic in the last few days with vehicles bearing South African, Namibian and Botswana registrations now a common feature.
The country’s highways have also seen an increased volume of traffic as people travel while more movement is expected during the weekend ahead of Christmas on Monday.
While this is the time for merrymaking, for years this has been the time where a lot of lives have been needlessly lost on the roads.
We urge motorists and travellers to enjoy their festivities responsibly. A lot of accidents recorded in recent years over the same period have been attributed to human error caused mainly by speeding, drunken driving and error of judgment.
We call upon all Zimbabweans to drive to arrive alive.
It is true that speed thrills but kills and one is better off late than never arriving at all.
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We, therefore, sincerely call on Zimbabweans and public service drivers in particular to exercise extreme caution and avoid night driving if possible to help minimise road carnage.
The rains are upon us and the roads will generally be wet and slippery and in such conditions, it is the worst time to drive at high speeds.
To public transporters, while this is the time that they would make more money than usual, they just need to remember that they will be carrying precious human lives, so the safety of passengers should come first.
They should desist from speeding in order to squeeze in more trips than usual.
Drinking and driving are never compatible. During this holiday period there is bound to be a lot of alcohol consumption and all drivers, public transporters or those for private vehicles, should take responsibility and stay away from the wheel after drinking.
In the same breath, we have had many accidents that are caused by use of faulty and unroadworthy vehicles. Before travelling make sure that your vehicle is in good shape to avoid causing injury or death on the road.
It is best for people to travel during the day. So many head-on collisions or side-wiping of vehicles occur during the night due to visibility challenges experienced at night.
While we have been complaining about the high number of roadblocks in the country, this is the time that we hope to see heavy police presence on the highways, not to frustrate motorists but to enforce traffic laws that help save lives in this busy festive period.
