EVERYDAY across Zimbabwe, hundreds of thousands of children walk to and from school.
For many, the journey is short, but far from safe.
They must navigate roads that were not designed to carry today’s volume of traffic, where the growth in private cars, commuter omnibuses and heavy trucks has far outpaced the capacity of the streets.
Many roads are designed for speed and not for protection, without marked crossings, with narrow verges and where children’s feet share the tarmac with speeding vehicles.
This October, during International Walk to School Month, we are reminded that keeping children safe on their daily journey is not just a seasonal campaign, but a national priority.
Work being carried out by the University of Zimbabwe and its partners in the RoadKids Study shows that practical, evidence-based solutions already exist, solutions that can turn good policy into real protection on the ground.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Zimbabwe has one of the highest road traffic fatality rates in the world — estimated at 29.9 deaths per 100 000 people, far above the global average.
Official statistics provided by the Zimbabwe Republic Police underestimate the burden because injuries that do not result in immediate death are poorly captured and not always followed up for victims who die later in hospital or at home.
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This exposes a critical weakness in our data systems and strengthens the call for up-to-date research.
Road traffic crashes are not only a health issue; they are a profound economic and development challenge.
They drain the economy: Zimbabwe was estimated to have lost about US$406 million in 2018, roughly 3% of GDP, money that could otherwise have been invested in education, health or infrastructure.
Road crashes rob the country of its most valuable resource: its young people who are the lynchpin of Zimbabwe’s future prosperity.
Road traffic crashes interrupt or even end children’s schooling, limiting their chances to grow into healthy, productive adults.
They force families to exhaust savings, fall into debt or sell property to pay for treatment.
They also overburden an already strained healthcare system and divert resources from other priorities.
The psychological toll is also profound: many children live with long-term trauma, while families and communities carry the emotional and social scars of lives lost or permanently altered.
In short, unsafe school journeys erode the nation’s human capital, perpetuate poverty and divert resources that could otherwise support sustainable development.
Zimbabwe’s policy framework compares favourably with many in the region and includes substantial national commitments such as participation in the Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety (2021-30) and alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
However, Zimbabwe has not yet ratified the African Union’s Road Safety Charter and is yet to implement the six UN road safety conventions that underpin international best practice.
In addition, important child-specific gaps remain notably the absence of legislation on child restraints aligned with WHO best practice and the stalled introduction of 30km/h school-zone limits, which were initiated, but not carried through.
Statutory Instrument 118 of 2023 mandating speed-limiting and monitoring devices on public-service vehicles and periodic revision of fines and penalties in road safety legislation is a step in the right direction.
Despite these commitments, Zimbabwe’s road-safety enforcement still relies largely on the older, behaviour-focused paradigm, which places primary blame for crashes on human error (individual drivers or pedestrians).
By contrast, the safe system approach, now recommended by the United Nations and WHO, accepts that human error is inevitable and, therefore, seeks to design the entire system of roads, vehicles, speeds and enforcement to minimise the risk of serious injury or death.
The behaviour-focused model tends to emphasise ever-stricter policing and fines, which can drive motorists to evade enforcement and foster opportunities for corruption, whereas the safe system approach has consistently been shown through research to save lives.
Our cities need human-centred traffic calming infrastructure that slows vehicles, influences behaviour and creates a safe environment for all.
Momentum is growing through a broad coalition for road-safety action that brings together partners such as RoadSafe Zimbabwe, the Road Users Association Zimbabwe, AA Zimbabwe and others under the Road Safety Partnership Zimbabwe.
The Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe, relevant ministries, the City of Harare and other local authorities, schools, the private sector, the Zimbabwe Republic Police Traffic Division, engineers, health-sector representatives and local community leaders are also in the mix.
The task now is to empower this coalition and turn its shared commitment into a coordinated multi-stakeholder response.
Road traffic crashes are preventable, and Zimbabwe already has the people, the local researchers and the community energy to make the walk to school safe for every child.
The RoadKids study led by the University of Zimbabwe in partnership with the University of Oxford, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, the London School of Economics, the Royal College of Surgeons of England and other collaborators, shows how local research can drive meaningful change.
The project is not only a boost for the country’s higher education sector, strengthening research and innovation in line with Education 5.0, but it also positions Zimbabwe as a centre of excellence in injury-prevention research.
Most importantly, it demonstrates how evidence can be turned into practical action.
The project emphasises the principles of the safe systems approach; encourages better use of data from police and health systems to inform policy and prioritise improvement; and community engagement: involving parents, teachers, local authorities and health workers so that solutions fit the realities of each neighbourhood.
These include enforcing lower speed limits around schools, building raised, visible pedestrian crossings and pavements, strong helmet, child restraint and seat belt laws and child safe routes to school.
Such measures are not experimental or prohibitively costly.
They have been proven elsewhere and can be adapted to Zimbabwe’s towns, cities and growth points.
Every child should be able to walk to school without fear.
Protecting them is not an optional extra, it is an investment in the nation’s most valuable resource: its young people.
By turning research into practical protection, Zimbabwe can show that the lives and futures of its children matter, and that safe journeys to school are a foundation for health, learning and national progress.
