THE Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe (TSCZ) said it is targeting to reduce road traffic accident deaths by 50% during the Christmas and New Year’s festive season by rolling out massive education and awareness campaigns targeting drivers and other road users.
BY JAIROS SAUNYAMA
The festive season period runs from December 15 until January 15 next year.
TSCZ spokesperson Tatenda Chinoda told NewsDay that 20 such educational roadblocks have already been mounted on major highways.
“As part of our conscious efforts to spread collective consciousness about the need to stop preventable road traffic deaths and injuries like the recent Jimila (Tsholotsho) disaster, twenty educational roadblocks have been mounted on major highways countrywide,” he said.
“In 2015, 184 people perished while 140 lost their lives last year during the festive season. The target of our road safety campaigns this season is to reduce road traffic deaths by 50%, which is from 140 people who perished in 2016,” he said, adding this year’s road safety campaigns were being held under the theme ‘SaveLives#Slowdown’.
Human error has been blamed for causing over 90% of road accidents in the country, with speeding topping the list.
“Constant knocking smoothens the rock. The idea is to remind road users to be safe on our roads and to arrive alive home every day. We launched the festive season road safety awareness campaigns on November 19 at Nyamakate Secondary School (Mashonaland West province). The launch also double d up as a commemoration of the victims of King Lion bus disaster,” Chinoda said.
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Some of the major road accidents that occurred this year include the Nyamakate bus disaster that claimed more than 40 lives and the Proliner accident that saw more than 30 people perishing after the bus caught fire following a sideswipe with a haulage truck.
Last week, a government truck overturned in Tsholotsho killing over 20 health workers, leaving 50 others seriously injured after the driver allegedly failed to negotiate a curve.
