A total of 1,989 people were killed in 2017 in road traffic accidents in Zambia.
This is out of a total number of 30,163 road traffic accidents recorded throughout the country.
This is according to fogures released by the Zambia Police Service.
In 2016, Zambia recorded a total number of 32,350 indicating a decrease of 2,187 accidents in 2017.
“When compared to the year 2016, the Country recorded a reduction in the number of fatalities in 2017 by 217, a reduction in persons seriously injured by 932 and a reduction in the number of persons slightly injured by six persons,” Police Spokesperson Esther Katongo revealed.
Most of the accidents recorded in 2017 have been attributed to excessive speed at 14.9%, misjudging clearance distance, 13.9%, failing to keep to the near side at 13.0% and overtaking improperly was at 5.3%.
Lusaka Province recorded the highest number of accidents at 15,977 where 474 persons were killed while Western Province recorded the lowest number at 546 with 61 persons killed.
The Copperbelt Province had 4874 reports with 434 persons killed, Central Province recordede2066 with 316 persons killed, Southern Province had 1757 with 170 persons killed, Eastern Province recorded 1586 with 155 persons killed, North Western Province had 1322 with 82 persons killed while Muchinga Province had 730 with 106 persons killed, Luapula Province had 710 with 71 persons killed and Northern Province had 595 with 120 persons killed.
Out of 1,989 persons killed in 2017, 203 were juveniles of which 123 were boys and 80 were girls, all below the age of 16 compared to 237 juveniles killed in 2016.
Meanwhile, the Zambia Police Service collected a total of K40, 439,445=00 as annual revenue for 2017 in Traffic fines.
Geez! I didn’t realize road accidents kill so many people in just a year! Has the night travel ban on public transport helped the situation?
more deadly than cholera.
maybe you fast and pray as well.
That means, on average we lost 165 people per month and 5 people per day! And since cholera broke out in October, we have lost less than 70 people. It largely due to the political will and the combine efforts from all stakeholders. We can reduce these road accidents if we choose to change our attitudes
Maybe Zambians should pray and fast over road carnage too.
That is a very high number of road traffic deaths for such a small population of 15 million. In Great Britain, with a population of 60 million, there were 1,792 road traffic deaths in 2016 (the highest since 2011)
We still have a long way to go in dealing with and resolving the underlying factors for these needless deaths.
WE NEED BETTER ROADS, WE NEED DUAL CARRIAGEWAYS AS MOST OF THESE ACCIDENTS HAPPEN WHEN CARS AND BUSES ARE TRYING TO OVERTAKE SLOW TRUCKS ON OUR OVERCROWDED ROADS.
Stats worse than cholera if you ask me…