‘Let’s exercise road safety everyday’

01 May, 2016 - 00:05 0 Views
‘Let’s exercise road safety everyday’

The Sunday Mail

In April, yet another horrific traffic accident claimed many lives. Two days before the country celebrated Independence Day, on April 18, an MB Transport bus collided head-on with a haulage truck about 45 kilometres outside the border town of Beitbridge, killing 12 people, while injuring 45.
Zimbabwe’s roads have continued to exhibit enormous appetite for human life, something which is not uncommon across the African continent.

In 2012, the first African Road Safety Day was launched in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to elevate road safety amongst issues that governments across the continent must confront with haste.

Because of rapid economic growth in Africa, both public and private vehicle fleets are expected to continue to grow rapidly in the coming years, creating tremendous pressure on the insufficient road infrastructure.

Without effective action, traffic deaths on the continent are expected to increase sharply within this decade.
The situation is particularly worrying because of the combination of high number of vulnerable road users, poor vehicle condition, under-developed infrastructure, lack of risk awareness, and ineffective enforcement jeopardised by weak institutional arrangements across Africa.

With only one million vehicles on its roads, and a relatively competitive infrastructure on the African continent, Zimbabwe should not have really been concerned about this.

But Zimbabwe’s road traffic statistics make for sad reading.
On average, close to 2 000 people die each year on Zimbabwe’s roads, which translates to at least five people losing their lives prematurely on a daily basis due to road traffic accidents.

Between 2009 and 2014, at least 38 people were injured daily in road traffic accidents.
It has been suggested before that what Zimbabwe requires are deterrent sentences to curb traffic accidents. Some have even hazarded that road safety must be inculcated in school curriculum.

Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa is one of those people who believe that the country has been too lenient with traffic offenders and that focus should be on amending the Road Traffic Act so that custodial sentences could be meted out for serious road traffic offenses.

“If stock theft attracts a minimum sentence of seven years imprisonment, why should a killer driver be fined a mere $100 and get away with murder?” he asked rhetorically while commemorating Africa Road Safety Day in November last year.

The Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe (TSCZ) has been making huge strides in its efforts towards raising road safety awareness. To ensure its efforts gain traction with road users, it has gone into partnership with a number of corporates such as Nyaradzo Group and Croco Motors in a bid to mobilise resources towards reducing the carnage on Zimbabwe’s roads.

Nyaradzo Group’s corporate communications officer, Kudzai Mpunzwana, said road safety should be exercised everyday and not to wait for Africa Road Safety Day, commemorated in November, to practice it.

Mpunzwana said whenever there is loss of life, the burden befalling families left behind is enormous.
“To begin with, there is the psychological trauma associated with unexpectedly losing a loved one.

“The resultant emotional scars can even last forever especially in the absence of professional advice from trained counsellors or support from neighbours and communities,” she said.

“There is also the important aspect of burial arrangements involved. Where there is no funeral policy, a lot of money has got to be found and expended towards laying the deceased to rest.

“It is not uncommon that relatives and friends of the deceased often must travel long distances from all corners of the world in order to be there as well when their dear departed embark on their final journey to their resting place,” she added.

In the case of the deceased being the breadwinner, families are forced to put their heads together to fend for those who would have been left behind. In the case of injuries occurring during accidents, the burden immediately falls on those paying for the costs of medical services.

“Considering that services at public hospitals and municipal clinics are heavily subsidised, the inescapable reality is that the taxpayer cannot run from this one. The strain on the country’s already overburden health delivery sector and the taxpayer, therefore, becomes unbearable,” said Mpunzwana.

“One would be lucky to escape a road traffic accident unscathed. Varying degrees of injuries usually occur during accidents, most of which can be permanent.

“Most families have, therefore, endured the pain and agony of taking care of relatives condemned to wheelchairs for the rest of their lives due to road traffic accidents.

“Some have even gone blind, never to regain their sight.”
While the blame is sometimes placed on the state of our roads, the buck should stop with the road users who contribute to more than 90 percent of the road traffic accidents.

“While accidents do happen, we are doing our very best as Nyaradzo Group to keep our fleet in good condition and to equip our drivers with the necessary skills required to preserve life and their equipment while on the road – making them believers in the safe travel gospel,” said Mpunzwana.

“All our public vehicles are monitored through a tracking system which forms part of our internal controls to ensure compliance with speed limits applicable on our roads. Even where traffic regulations permit speeds of up to 120km/hr, we still insist that our drivers should not exceed 80km per hour, except in wide tarred roads, and that our journeys be done during the day to avoid driving at night,” she added.

Nyaradzo recently ran a radio programme on StarFM dubbed “Let’s Talk About It”. One of the key topics of discussion on the programme was the “Fambai Kwakachena” Campaign which is aimed at encouraging people to drive during daylight hours. “Let’s Talk About It” has gained popularity among StarFM’s listeners.

It is often said that while driving in the daylight can be hazardous, driving at night doubles the risk of a car accident occurring. It is with this in mind that Nyaradzo thought it appropriate to warn drivers about the dangers of driving at night.

The partnership between TSCZ and Nyaradzo extends to the production of material used during awareness campaigns such as road safety fliers; key rings to remind drivers of the value of life whenever they put their keys on the ignition, and posters and banners for distribution in government departments, offices and schools where they are being used as teaching aids.

“While on the road, our drivers interact with other road users. An error, which many not necessarily be theirs might affect them as well hence the need for all road users to embrace road safety,” said Mpunzwana, adding that Nyaradzo, despite one of their divisions being involved in offering funeral services, wants their clients, existing and potential, to live long so that they can continue to contribute to their families and the well being of the country’s economy.

She said its only when the country is doing well and individuals and their families are prospering that Nyaradzo succeeds as a business.

The group runs internal programmes involving training and re-training of its drivers on how to act responsibly while on the country’s roads in order to safeguard both life and the company’s equipment.

Mpunzwana said as part of their training manual, their drivers must not do anything that puts lives at risk.
For instance, faced with flooded rivers or overflowing bridges they don’t take chances. Neither do they experiment during bad weather when countryside roads become slippery and impassable.

“Our drivers are the ones who make the final judgement on the accessibility of any road. They are our representatives out there and their top priorities are first, to safeguard lives and second, to protect assets.”

Whenever the weather gets bad, so do the roads. Car accidents happen often in the rain because water creates slick and dangerous surfaces for cars, trucks and motorcycles and other classes of automobiles to spin out of control or skid while braking.
It, therefore, means that to avoid accidents their drivers take extra care when it rains.

TSCZ’s safety officer, Tatenda Chinoda, said it was unfortunate that Zimbabwe continues to lose life when accidents are preventable.

Part of the solution, he said, was that drivers must always stay alert for stray animals. “Also, night driving is far more dangerous than day-time driving,” said Chinoda.

Share This:

Survey


We value your opinion! Take a moment to complete our survey

This will close in 20 seconds