Find the Root Cause of the Kafue Accident

The Zambian Roads and Highway Safety Group is urging those tasked with road safety to find the root cause of the Kafue accident involving a Juldan bus enroute to South Africa.

The Highway Safety Group feels we owe it to the families of the four passengers that perished in this accident to thoroughly investigate what transpired in this fatal accident, including the events leading to the accident so we come up with solutions to avoid future accidents.

The Highway Safety Group’s interest include the state of the road where this accident happened, whether this section of the road was well lit with proper road signage to warn of any dangers that may exist and whether the lanes were well marked to separate oncoming and going traffic? Were there potholes, broken down vehicles that could have distracted the Juldan bus?

The Highway Safety Group is therefore hoping to hear from the builders of the road, the Road Development Agency (RDA) whether their road was in a good working condition not to have caused this accident. RDA must also certify if this road can safely handle long distance and high speed vehicles such as the Juldan bus heading to South Africa on that fateful day.

The Group also wants to see hear from the Zambia Police what their conclusion on the accident is and whether a bus doing the speed that the Juldan Bus was doing would lose control if the road conditions and others were ideal for highway travel?

The Group also expects RTSA to review holistically their policy on night ban which forces buses with over 10 hours of travel to compete for space during the day when they could have travelled at night.

The Group wants to see a review of the insurance policies on fatal accidents to include compensations beyond funeral cover of persons that perish in these accidents. How much are insurance companies providing for families of accident victims killed on our roads?

Finally, the Group wants a review of the emergency services and if there was anything that could have been done to ensure that more lives were saved from the Kafue accident.

The Highway Safety Group is of the opinion that road safety agencies like RDA, RTSA and the Zambia police have for a long time glossed over causes of many fatal accidents in Zambia. Banning of bus companies, revoking of drivers’ licences and installing of GPS monitors does not stop accidents or save lives. Ensuring roads have no obstacles and are well marked with road signage does save lives.

Mthoniswa Banda

Group Admin – Zambia Roads & Highway Safety Group (ZRHSG)