The Sunday Mail
THE annual Easter holiday is probably the longest on our national calendar, stretching from Friday to Monday.
For believers and non-believers, it is an opportunity to fellowship and make merry with family and friends, so, naturally, it involves a lot of travelling.
The need to congregate for religious and traditional ceremonies necessitates movement.
This means the vehicle population on our roads expectedly swells this time of the year.
Having just come out of the rainy season, which had abundant rains, our roads are not in the best of shape and condition.
Potholes and damaged road verges have become a lurking danger for motorists, as well as passengers of public service vehicles.
And the fact that we already have our fair share of delinquent and rogue drivers on our roads creates the perfect storm of an accident waiting to happen.
So far, the signs are not encouraging; in fact, they are worrying.
On Friday alone, in just one accident, nine people died, while 31 others
were injured when a commuter omnibus they were travelling in collided with a minibus on the Harare-Masvingo Highway.
It is quite sad and unfortunate, considering that the accident happened on a stretch that has been rehabilitated by contractors working on the highway.
Ominously, last year, we did not fare better either.
Statistics indicate that 73 people were killed and 202 others injured in 264 road accidents recorded during the Easter and Independence holidays.
The figure was significantly and grimly higher that the 22 people who perished in 401 accidents in 2021.
A life lost on our roads is one too many.
What is worrying, however, is the fact that most of the accidents were attributed to human error.
“A comprehensive analysis by the police has revealed that most of the accidents are attributed to human error, which includes speeding, inattention, misjudgement, overtaking error and failure to observe road rules and regulations by drivers,” said Zimbabwe Republic Police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi then.
We can only hope and pray that those who are travelling will exercise extreme caution to prevent the needless loss of life. Although various statutory bodies such as Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe — which, of late, has roped in celebrities in their operations — have been holding awareness campaigns before national holidays every year, the high fatalities on our roads mean more needs to be done.
Probably, there is need to adequately resource the police to ensure they are not only deployed in numbers, particularly during holidays, but they also have the right equipment to do their job.
Suffice to say, they need breathalysers to reduce, if not eliminate, drunk driving.
They also need speed cameras to reduce speeding.
Likewise, the Vehicle Inspectorate Department has to be deployed to ensure only roadworthy vehicles are on the roads.
But motorists themselves have to be responsible.
They should scrupulously observe road rules and regulations, and avoid getting behind the wheel when their attention and concentration are impaired.
The need to avoid travelling unless when it is absolutely necessary cannot be overemphasised.
The impact of road traffic accidents can be immense.
The World Health Organisation estimates that approximately 1,4 million people die and 50 million others are injured in road crashes around the world every year.
It also claims injuries from road accidents are the eighth leading cause of death for all age groups and the leading cause of death among children and young adults.
A 2018 study launched in Azerbaijan for the period 2019-2023, whose objective was to improve the road safety situation in the country and reduce the number of fatalities, injuries and crashes, was both revealing and instructive.
“The casualty survey showed that road accidents have important financial impacts on those injured in road accidents and relatives of casualties,” said the World Bank in a report.
“More than half of the survey respondents reported problems with respect to carrying out their jobs and 10 percent reported a lifelong inability to work.
“About one-third (38 percent) of the respondents reported an income loss after an accident, including 15 percent in substantial income loss.
“These impacts were found to be stronger for the bottom 40 percent of the population in terms of income distribution, meaning that road accidents have a significant negative impact on poverty and shared prosperity.”
This might seem to be mere statistics but behind them are grim stories of real people.
It, therefore, makes it incumbent for all of us to be responsible on our roads.
Let’s live beyond the holiday
The Sunday Mail
THE annual Easter holiday is probably the longest on our national calendar, stretching from Friday to Monday.
For believers and non-believers, it is an opportunity to fellowship and make merry with family and friends, so, naturally, it involves a lot of travelling.
The need to congregate for religious and traditional ceremonies necessitates movement.
This means the vehicle population on our roads expectedly swells this time of the year.
Having just come out of the rainy season, which had abundant rains, our roads are not in the best of shape and condition.
Potholes and damaged road verges have become a lurking danger for motorists, as well as passengers of public service vehicles.
And the fact that we already have our fair share of delinquent and rogue drivers on our roads creates the perfect storm of an accident waiting to happen.
So far, the signs are not encouraging; in fact, they are worrying.
On Friday alone, in just one accident, nine people died, while 31 others
were injured when a commuter omnibus they were travelling in collided with a minibus on the Harare-Masvingo Highway.
It is quite sad and unfortunate, considering that the accident happened on a stretch that has been rehabilitated by contractors working on the highway.
Ominously, last year, we did not fare better either.
Statistics indicate that 73 people were killed and 202 others injured in 264 road accidents recorded during the Easter and Independence holidays.
The figure was significantly and grimly higher that the 22 people who perished in 401 accidents in 2021.
A life lost on our roads is one too many.
What is worrying, however, is the fact that most of the accidents were attributed to human error.
“A comprehensive analysis by the police has revealed that most of the accidents are attributed to human error, which includes speeding, inattention, misjudgement, overtaking error and failure to observe road rules and regulations by drivers,” said Zimbabwe Republic Police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi then.
We can only hope and pray that those who are travelling will exercise extreme caution to prevent the needless loss of life. Although various statutory bodies such as Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe — which, of late, has roped in celebrities in their operations — have been holding awareness campaigns before national holidays every year, the high fatalities on our roads mean more needs to be done.
Probably, there is need to adequately resource the police to ensure they are not only deployed in numbers, particularly during holidays, but they also have the right equipment to do their job.
Suffice to say, they need breathalysers to reduce, if not eliminate, drunk driving.
They also need speed cameras to reduce speeding.
Likewise, the Vehicle Inspectorate Department has to be deployed to ensure only roadworthy vehicles are on the roads.
But motorists themselves have to be responsible.
They should scrupulously observe road rules and regulations, and avoid getting behind the wheel when their attention and concentration are impaired.
The need to avoid travelling unless when it is absolutely necessary cannot be overemphasised.
The impact of road traffic accidents can be immense.
The World Health Organisation estimates that approximately 1,4 million people die and 50 million others are injured in road crashes around the world every year.
It also claims injuries from road accidents are the eighth leading cause of death for all age groups and the leading cause of death among children and young adults.
A 2018 study launched in Azerbaijan for the period 2019-2023, whose objective was to improve the road safety situation in the country and reduce the number of fatalities, injuries and crashes, was both revealing and instructive.
“The casualty survey showed that road accidents have important financial impacts on those injured in road accidents and relatives of casualties,” said the World Bank in a report.
“More than half of the survey respondents reported problems with respect to carrying out their jobs and 10 percent reported a lifelong inability to work.
“About one-third (38 percent) of the respondents reported an income loss after an accident, including 15 percent in substantial income loss.
“These impacts were found to be stronger for the bottom 40 percent of the population in terms of income distribution, meaning that road accidents have a significant negative impact on poverty and shared prosperity.”
This might seem to be mere statistics but behind them are grim stories of real people.
It, therefore, makes it incumbent for all of us to be responsible on our roads.
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