THE Easter period is a season of hope. Even if you have no particular interest in the Christian faith you will have been confronted by Easter Eggs and Easter bunnies. So especially if you have no soft feelings for the period someone is bound to ask you about Easter.
We see frequently each year on the evening news, the microphone being thrust upon unsuspecting citizens, with the question what does Easter mean to you? Most of them, totally unprepared will blurt out the last thing they had heard from their priest or pastor the last time they attended an Easter service.
Then the will be reflecting afterwards if it was the most appropriate thing to say on national television.
More frequently your children will ask you, in the less tense environment of your home, where you can be a little more honest. When the question comes, as it often will, you will usually repeat the question to yourself, saying, does Easter really mean anything to me?
For many people it carries no more significance than an opportunity for a long awaited break from work, and a chance to catch up with old friends, or go off on a family holiday.
The weather also is most welcoming with skies brightening up from the gloomy downcast appearance of the rainy season to the more radiant appearance of the hot season slowly sneaking in.
It’s a time when everyone is going somewhere and talking on top of their voices. Everyone’s late for their long awaited for family holidays and rendezvous with old friends. From the Medical point of view it is also the time for accidents!!
Lots of work has been done on the roads in Zambia, lately. However probably lots more needs to be done. There have been a sixty fold increase in the number of cars on the roads, from just 5,000 in the 1970s to over 300,000 in 2013.
You need only drive on one of the roads in the major cities in Zambia, to see that peak traffic times are becoming more and more frequent. Road traffic accidents are the 5th most common cause of disease in Zambia. They have also become a major cause of death in young people in Zambia, particularly the death of young men.
1.How big a problem are Road Traffic Accidents in Zambia?
2. What is the cause of this high level of Road Traffic Accidents?
3. How can I help to reduce this problem?
1. How big a problem are Road Traffic Accidents in Zambia?
Many people will readily accept the problems caused by Malaria, TB, HIV and Diarrhoeal diseases. However most people will rarely think of Road Traffic Accidents in the same way.
In the first instance many people will have difficulty thinking of Road Traffic Accidents alongside diseases as such.
So in the mind of many this is a condition associated with the police, RSTA and spiritual curses. However if you really think about it, the person involved in an accident will inevitable end up in the hospital.
They may sustain injuries and even die. The Ministry of Health has indicated that over the last 10 years, RTAs have become a major cause of death and illness. In fact it is now one of the top 5 causes of illness and death in Zambia, up to 39 new cases are seen for every 1,000 population. This is just below Malaria, Diarrhoea and Pneumonea.
World wide Road Traffic accidents are the leading cause of death in the age group between 15-29years. So not only is it a major problem it also kills the youngest and most promising of our citizens. Road Traffic accidents also tend to have a higher case fatality rate then many of the other public health diseases.
This means that a person involved in a RTA is more likely to die than someone who has an episode of Malaria. The largest group at risk are the pedestrians. This is because they are the most exposed to the physical injury caused by the Road Accident.
The number of road traffic accidents have increased from about 800 cases annually in the 1990s to 1200 in the 2000s in Zambia.
This represents an increase of some 50per cent. The explanation is probably due to an increase in the number of vehicles and population, without a similar increase in the road volume. Africa is the region with the highest level of deaths from Road Traffic Accidents in the world. With the least RTA deaths being in Europe according to the World Health organisation report on road safety.
2. What is the cause of this high level of Road Traffic Accidents?
In the 1980s when I grew up, very few people owned cars. Even when people had cars, these were often institutional cars, or they belonged to the government.
So they were parked over the weekends and public holidays. This, in part was related to the economic malaise as well as the rather socialist philosophy of the time.
The volume of cars in Zambia now is said to have increased rapidly over the last 10years. There are a total of well over 300,000 registered vehicles in Zambia.
Annually over 10,000 cars are imported into the country. In particular with the liberalisation of the public transport system, there has been a tremendous increase in intercity buses.
There is no doubt that this increased volume of cars and buses has had an influence on the increase in RTAs in Zambia. There is no doubt that the rate of road expansion, has lagged well behind the rate of increase of motor vehicles. In particular public transport vehicles
If you have seen or witnessed a major Road Traffic Accident you will have observed, the not uncommon association will be alcohol. One of the major factors which have been associated with Road Traffic Accidents is Alcohol.
Up to 50per cent of serious Road Traffic Accidents in Zambia have been shown to be associated with the driver or passenger having drunk alcohol. Alcohol interferes with judgement and motors skills, which impedes the performance of a motorist on the road.
For this reason, by law, a person with a volume of more than 80mg /dl of Alcohol should not drive. Put simply, the RTSA moto is “if you drink don’t drive”.
Other factors also associated with Road Accidents are,
1.Underage driving
2.Unlicenced driving
3.Low usage of seat belts
4.Excessive speeding
5.Lack of use of helmets for motor cyclists
6.Poor Road infrastructure.
You will find that if you spend some time at the local bus terminals, you will see, a lot of teenage bus conductors, posing as drivers. In fact I have been surprised on a number of occasions, well on the bus route to find a driver change occurring.
Only to discover later, that for half the route you were being driven by the unlicenced teenage conductor.
Next time you are in a bus you might notice how frequently the driver sips from the “coke bottle” which is often next to his seat. In many cases the bottle has a coke label, but the content is in fact a mixture of several alcoholic beverages.
In urban areas teenage driving is not uncommon. I was in the operating theatre one fateful Sunday morning, only to be asked to come out and speak to a distressed member of staff.
When I come out of the theatre, I learnt that the young man we had just being attempting to save, in the theatre was the teenage son of one of our members of staff.
The story goes that the family had gone to Church, and during the church service the young man had asked for the car keys, in order to retrieve his Bible. Unknown to the family he had driven off to have some fun with his mates.
The next thing she learnt, was that the boy had been involved in an accident and was in the operating theatre. The legal age to obtain a driving licence in Zambia is 18 years, which is also the minimum legal age for drinking alcohol.
This is not without good reason. The responsibility of driving is a onerous one, so those who drive must have both the skill and maturity to handle this responsibility well.
The combination of underage driving and underage drinking is a dangerous but common one. Many people only put on seat belts when they approach a police road block, and remove them immediately afterwards. Most highways in Zambia have a speed limit of about 60 to 70km/hour. Only in the last 10 years, have we seen speed traps set up along the roads.
Often these are hand held and predictably placed, and they are rarely present during public holiday. Excessive speeding is extremely prevalent on the highways, especially among public service vehicles. Motor cyclists are one of the most exposed and at risk people on the road.
How many times have you seen motorists or their passengers without helmets? The highest case fatality rates in Road Traffic accidents are among motor cyclists and their passengers.
East Africa and Uganda in particular, are notorious for Boda Boda accidents(the local name for the motor cycles).
There is a great need to improve the quality and quantity of highways or inter city roads. When you travel around in the region and in Europe, you will notice that the construction of high quality roads has been a major focus in many of the developed countries.
It serves to enhance economic development and improve road safety. Over the last 10 to 20 years, while Africa has experienced an increase in Road Traffic accidents, many European countries have experienced a decline. This is due in part, to the quality of the road network.
3. How can I help to reduce this problem?
There are many things that the World Health Organisation recommends in terms of national strategies to reduce accidents in high risk countries.
Which include Zambia. These include legislation around Road Safety Agencies, Ambulance services, Road infrastructure development, speed limits, driver licensing and relicensing. However there is so much that the state and government can do.
The question that each of us needs to answer, is what can I personally do, to help in this growing national problem. It’s always easy to blame other people, as the major cause of this problem. We can blame the police service, RTSA, teenagers, alcohol and bus drivers, the list is endless.
The truth of the matter is we can make a difference ourselves. When you see the effects of RTAs on the lives of people on a day to day basis as we do in the hospitals, then you feel obliged to help.
Not to add that RTAs negatively affect the economy (GDP), by 3-4per cent per annum. So just by reducing RTAs we can improve the economy. You can certainly always wear seat belts, when you drive, and you can insist that all your passengers do the same. Never let children stand or play in the car and always have the child lock on.
Never drive when you have had a drink or two, this will impair your judgement and put you and others at risk. Alcohol will always give you a false sense of confidence. Never let your teenage children drive unless they are above 17 years, and they have been taught and licenced.
Wear a helmet if you are using a motor cycle and insist that your passengers do so as well. Try to be on time for all your meeting whenever possible. Develop the habit of always driving below 100km per hour.
Resist the habit of buying a car model primarily because of its speed, always buy a car model because of its safety record. The lack of jobs in the formal sector has meant that a lot of people have gone into the transport business for a livelihood. If transport is your business, make money from it, but do so safely.
Ensure your vehicles and your drivers are well services and maintained. Finally the most important thing that will save your life in an accident is wearing a seat belt.