By SYCORAX TIEYSA NDHLOVU –
THE road traffic accidents that have claimed many human lives in the recent past need urgent intervention to save other lives from being lost.
And it appears for these interventions to achieve desired results, the whole road transport administrative and legal framework, and its enforcement need urgent review and reforms.
Zambia has recently experienced catastrophic road traffic accidents, starting from that of Kawambwa Boys Secondary School, Nyimba, Chibombo and now the Mazabuka road traffic accident and others, where many lives were lost.
Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) states that about 1,000 lives are lost each year in road traffic accidents. After HIV/AIDS and malaria, accidents are the number three highest cause of death in Zambia. It is also reported that such accidents are second highest causes of death in people aged between nine and 25.
It is from this background that RTSA reports that 90 per cent of road traffic accidents in the country are caused by human error associated with drivers’ miscalculation of situations while driving a vehicle.
Vice-President Guy Scott said Zambia was one of the countries with the highest number of road traffic accidents in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.
It is because of this that President Michael Sata is demanding an urgent pragmatic and integrated approach to curb high rates of road traffic accidents in Zambia.
Whatever age and status, human life is precious. To make matters worse, through such accidents, Zambia is losing lives that can contribute to socio-cultural, economic, political, legal and technological advancement of the society.
Therefore, road traffic accidents are not only claiming many lives from the Zambian society but are contributing to high poverty levels as people who are supposed to add value to their families, local communities, organisations and national development processes die in such accidents.
Dr Scot, who was speaking in Livingstone referring to the Chibombo road traffic accident where about 50 lives were lost at once, said there was need to bring sanity on the roads because Zambia seemed to be lost at sea due to high road traffic accidents.
To understand why road traffic accidents seem to be increasing, one has to look at a number of factors. Population is increasing. Moreover, the number of vehicles in the country is going up. The socio-cultural, economic, political, legal and technological environments are also changing.
Some of these factors are changing at an alarming rate and are doing so at conflicting levels.
Many of these changes can have both positive and negative effects on society. Therefore, there is need to monitor and analyse the trends of such changes, and take appropriate responses as need arises.
To leave road traffic administrative and legal systems and how they were enforced many years ago would be unrealistic and unfair to the Zambian people as such accidents might continue in the country.
Reuben Likezo, 53, said many factors caused road traffic accidents. Mr Likezo, a former University of Zambia Professional Staff Association (UNZAPROSA) member, said most roads in Zambia had no road signs and speed limits, adding that this could make a driver speed up where he or she was not supposed to.
Mr Likezo also said many roads in the country were not marked, a situation that could cause accidents, especially at night.
And Josephine Muyeba said some drivers had a habit of speeding, way beyond the speed limits, especially passenger bus drivers, some of whom overloaded passengers.
Mr Likezo, a graduate in Social Work from Cavendish University, said potholes could cause accidents as drivers tried to avoid them while, suddenly, another speeding vehicle comes, especially at night.
He said the other challenge was that some drivers had little or no time to rest as they had to meet certain targets. This makes them work under pressure without resting. Therefore, passenger bus drivers’ conditions of service should be reviewed to ensure that drivers have enough rest before they carry people.
He said passengers had a right to ask a driver to rest if they saw some strange driving which might be a result of a driver being too tired to drive.
Moreover, Mr Likezo said some drivers liked driving under the influence of alcohol. He said it would be helpful for traffic police and RTSA officers to have beer and speed limit testing equipment.
But Mr Likezo said there was need to strengthen issuance of driving licences. He observed that drivers’ training was not adequate as most important factors were not included. He cited sight (eye) testing and psychological factors as not being adequate in drivers’ training and issuance of driving licences.
And Clara Kamanga in Kitwe said drivers needed more training in road safety and defensive driving.
It is suggested that passenger bus drivers’ age limit in public service vehicles (PSV) and heavy-duty vehicles be raised to 35 years depending on someone’s driving experience, skills, personality and conduct.
Mr Likezo said PSV drivers’ licence should be a status of achievement in accumulative experience and skills in driving for some years and not issued soon after one has finished a certain class of driving. Mr Likezo argued that some people had wrong personalities for driving vehicles as this needed patience and care for both a vehicle and human life.
Mr Likezo also said issuing driving licences through corrupt practices could increase road traffic accidents in a country. Issuance of driving licences should be strengthened, especially when one considers licences in passenger bus services.
Mr Likezo suggested that drivers should have regular refresher courses where professional, experienced and skilled instructors could review how drivers in the country have been conducting themselves to cause or prevent loss of lives from happening. He also said sight testing on drivers should be regular.
It has also been observed that the current driving licence is defective in that it has no provision for traffic police or RTSA officers to endorse their observations in the way a driver conducts himself while on duty.
It has been argued that such a defect doesn’t allow traffic police and RTSA officials to know the history and driving behaviour of each driver at any point, and that makes drivers to be careless because they know that no record can justify suspension or permanent withdrawal of one’s licence.
But one can argue that some traffic police and RTSA officials can equally be corrupted not to endorse negative observations and comments in one’s driver’s licence.
This observation reveals that some traffic and RTSA officers are highly corrupt. In some cases, the same vehicle with a fault is impounded by many traffic police or RTSA officers at different checkpoints, but because of corruption among some officers, such a vehicle continues operating until it causes an accident.
Mr Likezo suggested that to curb such malpractices, discipline in the traffic police and RTSA officers should be strengthened at all levels.
It was further suggested that traffic police and RTSA officers should not operate in one station for many years. Any officer found with a case relating to corrupt practices should be demoted and transferred to a far-flung station in a different department or section.
Mr Likezo proposed that disciplinary review cases for such officers should be done after three to five years when it can either be lifted or upheld depending on one’s conduct during that period.
To strengthen discipline in traffic police and RTSA, such officers should be trained and appointed on merit. They also need special conditions of service and disciplinary code of conduct to reflect the nature of their duties and what is expected of them.