Transport and Communications Minister Mutotwe Kafwaya says a multi-sectoral approach is required to curb road traffic accidents on the Zambian roads.
Mr Kafwaya is saddened that 30 people were killed last week in two separate road traffic accidents on the Copperbelt Province.
He said it is unfortunate that 12 people died in an accident when a Rosa Bus collided head-on with Volvo truck along the Ndola Kapiri Mposhi road and another 18 people when a Toyota Hiace Minibus collided head-on with a foreign truck along the Kitwe-Kalulushi road.
Mr Kafwaya said the task of improving road safety cannot be left to the Road Trasport and Safety Agency and the Police alone but everyone should get involved.
He acknowledged that more needs to be done to improve road safety on the Zambian roads to prevent people from dying.
A report published by the World Health Organisation in 2018 shows that car accidents are now the leading global cause of death amongst children and young adults aged five to 29 years old with Africa having the worst rate of road traffic deaths in the world.
The reporter contends that more people die from road-related injuries than from HIV/Aids, tuberculosis or diarrhoeal diseases.
Government need to provide leadership in ensuring that thorough investigations are conducted to determin the cause of the accidents in each of the cases. Perhaps it would help to seek assistance from other countries on how they investigate such cases! How is the road worthiness testing conducted for vehicles on the road?, Are the road designs safe? Do we have sufficient road signs? How is driver training conducted? Does it need revamping? Should the government implement licence demerit points in addition to fines? The clueless ministers in this government make my blood boil… In all these questions, there are opportunities for government to make money that will assist in improving the road systems. Instead of making wild and vague statements, Ministers need to realise that they are the…
PF Ministers need to realise that they are the ones who are supposed to implement initiatives and not talking nonsense all the time. Give us a break Mutotwe! STOP MAKING STATEMENTS AND SHOW US WHAT YOU CAN DO..
Too vague.
90 percent of Zambian drivers there believe in overtaking? And the man overs are very embarrassing , I personally think they buy the driving licence from the RARSA
I don’t believe this statistics about more people dying because of diseases than accidents. Who conducted a research and how was data collected
Talk is cheap bwana… Its your frikin JOB! DO IT.. What does multi sectoral mean when you are supposed to lead..How *****ic.
When is RATSA, IBAZ, PIA, IAZ , ZP and Road Safety Trust going to sit down and come up with road traffic volunteers from banking, insurance and transport industry to enforce fitness, licensing, speed and driving rules ( at random selection of drivers to test their vehicles, alcohol and drug levels, state of awareness-alertness and answers to practical situations that arise on road)?
Drivers shall be tested for alcohol content by VOLUNTEERS in the presence of media and policeman/RTSA officials. Name and Shame bigwigs
So sad for the families who lost loved ones
This problem doesn’t require a rocket scientist to solve. it is simple. (1) Great North road is a death trap & many others have serious ridges caused by trucks ferrying our copper whose beneficiaries i do not know. To drive on these roads, you need to have a very fit vehicle not one whose suspension is compromised. (2) Huge traffic flow which the road infra-structure cant support anymore. Overtaking on most of our roads has become a suicide mission due to heavy traffic. when is the dual carriage why starting? There is money from toll gates, why can’t contractor move on site? (3) Our roads have no shoulders and no provisions for broken down vehicles (4) Ridiculously low speed limits of 60 on the highway are causing congestion on the road & fueling the appetite for people to cruise when…
Government needs to put in a law to toll breakdown vehicles from the roads at least within the 30 minutes from breakdown and owners go and pay for towing at the police. 80% of the accidents are caused by these road obstructions such as breakdown trucks which sometimes you’ll find it on the road for days and when a driver tries to avoid such they end up in head on collision accidents not that a normal drivers wants to hit and on coming vehicle head on it’s the only option that remains after being found in such a predicament.
Mr Mutotwe Kafwaya is saying lot of garbage and appear to be intellectually imanciated. Concept of multi-sectoral – approach as a means to curb accidents in a nation is laughable everywhere in developed nations. Acquiring huge fleet of vehicles in a nation should come with competence of rules of the roads, good infrastructure of roads, high competency requirements of drivers – licencing regime, and efficient road traffic regulations. These are standards that apply in the west and road accidents are minimal. The gibberish show statements from Kafwaya is part of the problems in Zambia.
PF should be ashamed to talk about road safety especially on interlink roads after the amount of money they have spent on inflated road contracts
Zambian journalists stop feeding us with halfbaked news stories. You start of saying: Transport and Communications Minister Mutotwe Kafwaya says a multi-sectoral approach is required to curb road traffic accidents on the Zambian roads.
Nowhere in your story do you go on to explain what is a’multi-sectoral approach’. You just end it there. You haven’t done your job. If Kafwaya didn’t explain what this is then don’t report it if you don’t know what it means