The Sunday Mail
Joel Biggie Matiza
ENSURING road safety is the emerging frontier to ensure sustainable transport systems in both developed and developing countries. Our national road safety is guided by the systems approach which is anchored on partnership, collaboration and co-ordination.
Generally, the volume of traffic in Africa is far below that of developed countries and yet Africa has the highest number of road carnage.
In Africa, about 650 people die due to road accidents daily, while an average of five people are killed and 38 others are injured in Zimbabwe every day. Increased road carnage is, therefore, a common challenge in developing countries.
Most of these road accidents, however, are preventable and that is why there is hope they can be reduced.
In Zimbabwe, the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe (TSCZ) is mandated to promote road safety through safety education, training, publicity and research. TSCZ is, therefore, the lead agency for road safety awareness campaigns and is part of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development.
Indeed, road accidents occur each year, some of which end up being declared national disasters. Some road disasters during the past two years include the head-on collision of two buses at the 166-kilometre peg along the Harare-Mutare highway and the Ngezi Bridge road disaster, just to mention a few.
About 47 people were killed while several others were injured during the 166-km peg road disaster at the end of 2018, and 20 people also lost their lives during the Ngezi Bridge road disaster in June 2019.
On average, road traffic deaths, injuries and property damage result in loss of 3 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Such a loss is unacceptable since it militates against the attainment of our nation’s Vision 2030.
Our national target, as guided by the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety, is to reduce road traffic deaths by 50 percent or less by the year 2030. This target is realistic and achievable especially if all stakeholders involved in ensuring road safety work as a team.
The pain, suffering and economic loss experienced by affected individuals and families as a result of accidents is unbearable.
Road traffic injuries place a heavy burden, not only on the national economy, but also on household finances. Many families are driven deep into poverty by the loss of breadwinners and the added burden of caring for members disabled by road traffic injuries. The dependency burden for close relatives also increases when their brothers or sisters, who were breadwinners, are lost due to road accidents.
National statistics indicate that youths are also affected by road carnage since the age band at most risk of road traffic crashes ranges from 16 to 45 years.
No nation, however well-endowed with natural resources, can long endure the loss of its labour force. What is disheartening is that more than 90 percent of these road crashes are caused by human error.
Speeding, overtaking errors, driving under the influence of alcohol, fatigue and disregard for road traffic regulations are the major causes of road traffic fatalities. We must all polish our attitudes and always be road safety conscious to reduce these preventable accidents.
Pursuant to the foregoing, TSCZ made notable achievements in 2019 including, but not limited to massive awareness campaigns on the need to ensure road safety in Zimbabwe.
The publicity of the awareness campaigns is no longer only common during the festive seasons, but is now being done continuously throughout the year. In 2019, the TSCZ surpassed its target of educating 10 million road users and issued 50 441 defensive driving certificates. In this regard, the 2019 record of road fatalities and causalities decreased substantially by 29 percent and 22 percent respectively compared to 2018.
Road safety is a collective responsibility with benefits to many, including third parties. We must desist from the blame game and unite against road traffic deaths, injury and property damage.
Road traffic crashes also affect everyone directly and or indirectly. It is ,therefore, imperative to continuously include all stakeholders like churches, villages, schools and the private sector, among others in road safety programmes.
The TSCZ will continuously engage political and traditional leadership in its awareness campaigns on road safety. Political and traditional leadership also assist in educating community members of the need to protect road infrastructure from vandalism and theft.
Such infrastructure includes road signs and fences, among others. With the new Highway Code already in place, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development will soon install new road signs countrywide and this will go a long way in ensuring road safety.
These road signs need to be protected from the monster of vandalism that has been common of late in the country.
The First Family has supported the call for collective responsibility and action in support for road safety in Zimbabwe since last year.
On December 16, 2019, the First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa, led an impressive effective toll plaza/roadside festive season campaign.
She, therefore, becomes the topmost national road safety champion.
National political will is critical if we are to attain our target of halving road accident- related deaths to 50 percent by 2030. We hope parliamentarians and traditional leadership will take on board such initiatives in the near future.
The First Lady is also extending further the need to ensure road safety by supporting women and the youth. Last month, she launched Women and Youth Driver Training Programme in Mashonaland East. The programme will be rolled out in all provinces before the end of the year.
The inclusion of many female participants in this programme does not only address gender disparity in the transport sector, but is a step towards ensuring road safety. Generally, women are believed to be safer drivers than their male counterparts. They are less aggressive and more law-abiding than men. Licensed female drivers are not reckless and may therefore assist in improving road safety.
A successful road trip and good driving are highly correlated. The state of the mind of the driver together with state of the vehicle and that of the road and weather are key to successful trips. Good drivers will ensure road safety is not compromised and abide to the laws of the road. Good driving and good behaviour is therefore a must for every driver.
Drivers are strongly encouraged to desist from bad practices that may lead to road carnage, such as the use of cellphones while driving. Drivers and passengers should always fasten seat belts and take some rest to manage fatigue when driving long distances.
Speed limit devices are also strongly encouraged for public transport vehicles. In 2020, TSCZ targets to reach an average 12 million road users and to train more than 35 000 drivers and instructors. In this regard, the lead agency will embark on digitisation of road information as it embraces the use of ICT to ensure wide coverage.
A further reduction in fatalities and causalities is expected this year. To date, Zimbabwe has participated in a number of regional and international conferences to ensure road safety.
At the beginning of 2020, Zimbabwe participated at a Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in Stockholm, Sweden.
Given that the Decade of Action on Road Safety is coming to end this year, the Ministerial Conference charted the way for the Road Safety Action 2021-2030 through the Stockholm Declaration on Road Safety.
The need for national and international leadership to have paradigm shift and regard road safety as a priority and integral part in all development policy issues was emphasised during the Stockholm International Conference. In this regard, our First Lady, since last year has been supporting programmes that enhance road safety, which are already in line with the Stockholm Conference resolutions.
Our ministry has also further prioritised road safety in its 2020 Strategic Plan.
In line with the PCC model, there is need for more regional and global integration in road safety partnerships and collaborations.
Thus following Stockholm Conference, the ministry also participated during the 82nd Annual Session of the Inland Transport Committee (ITC) organised by United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) that was held in Geneva, Switzerland.
Apart from attending the conference and other side events, I presented two papers on the role of sustainable inland transport in emissions reduction and adaptation, and another one on road safety.
The transport sector contributes to global warming that is causing climate change. Climate change has led to persistent droughts and sometimes floods that damage infrastructure.
On this note, I would like to thank His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe Emmerson Mnangagwa for his visionary leadership and guidance towards the success of road infrastructure development currently ongoing nationwide.
I would also want to thank development partners like United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) for their continued support in ensuring road safety in low- and middle-income countries.
The private sector also positively contributes to road safety through a variety of initiatives in the country, a fact that is commendable.
On a related development, in November 2019, Zimbabwe successfully hosted the Africa Transport Policy Programme (SSATP) in Victoria Falls, where Zimbabwe was handed over to chair the programme by Morocco.
The theme of the 2019 SSATP annual conference was “Positioning Africa for a Sustainable Post — 2020 Road Safety Agenda”.
The November 2019 Conference reviewed the SSATP’s third development plan (DP3) which is aligned to the United Nations (UN) Decade of Action for Road Safety set to end this year, 2020. DP3 has three pillars — Pillar A focuses on regional integration, Pillar B is on urban transport and mobility and Pillar C focuses on the need to ensure road safety.
Given that DP3 will be ending this year, a fourth development plan (DP4) was formulated during the November 2019 SSATP Annual General Meeting. DP4 is also aligned to the UN and Africa Decade of Action on Road Safety given that some of its set targets are yet to be achieved worldwide.
The key pillars for the 2011-2020 UN Decade of Action includes road safety management (Pillar 1), safer road and mobility (Pillar 2), safer vehicles (Pillar 3), safer road users (Pillar 4) and post-crash response (Pillar 5). DP4 therefore included the pillars of DP3 and two additional pillars focusing on road asset management and civil aviation.
Road asset management incorporates the aspect of the negative impact of climate change on existing road infrastructure.
It is commendable to also note that in July 2019, Zimbabwe, under the guidance of UNECE assisted by United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) commenced a Road Safety Performance Review to identify the most critical road safety priority needs and offer tailored recommendations.
The Road Safety Performance Review is in five phases of which some have already been completed and these are:
- Phase One; where priority areas on road safety were determined through collective national stakeholder engagement.
- Phase Two; focused on assessment of the road safety situation in Zimbabwe by national consultants and was done in November 2019.
Currently, the TSCZ is working on modalities to carry out the remaining three phases and upon completion of these phases, Zimbabwe will be able to:
- Update the regulatory framework to include international and regional recommendations through the accession to the UN Road Safety Conventions. This includes acceding to the African Road Safety Charter and African Trans-Highway Agreement;
- Consider the transposition of these legal instruments into the National Road Safety Act;
- Strengthen the Traffic Safety Council so that it is able to perform the functions as a Lead Road Safety Agency;
- Establish the road crash database; and
- Improve road safety enforcement and education for remarkable change in road user behaviours.
Government, therefore, remains committed to ensure road safety and such efforts are being complemented through development of road infrastructure countrywide. A single death on our roads is simply unacceptable.
The aforementioned pillars including the need to ensure road safety, facilitates the attainment of sustainable and efficient transport systems. This is crucial for the country to attain some of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
Honourable Joel Biggie Matiza is Zimbabwe’s Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development and an architect.
