The number of road traffic accidents in Zambia has been reducing since 2006. This has been disclosed by Road Transport and Safety Agency -RATSA Director Frederick Mwalusaka.
Mr Mwalusaka says the number of Accidents and fatalities are further expected to reduce this year. Mr Mwalusaka says this will come about as a result of the joint enforcement strategy on road safety, which was launched recently.
The strategy focuses on enhancing monitoring systems to increase compliance to road and traffic rules. Mr Mwalusaka was speaking at the Road Transport and Safety Agency -RATSA media breakfast in Lusaka on Wednesday.
Zambia has been ranked number 182 in terms of road traffic accidents out of 192 countries by the World Health Organisation-WHO. The survey was conducted in 2010.
And The Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) has disclosed that the automated motor vehicle inspection centre at Mimosa in Lusaka will become fully operational within the third quarter of 2012.
The agency is also expected to procure mobile examination equipment which will be used in other towns.
About two billion three hundred and fifty million kwacha will be spent on the fixed equipment at Mimosa while K12.8 billion will be spent on the procurement of four mobile units.
RTSA chief executive officer Frederick Mwalusaka noted that the agency has for a very long time been ill-equipped in motor vehicle examinations where officers are still using human judgment to determine the road worthiness of motor vehicles.
Mr. Mwalusaka disclosed that a contract has already been executed with a Germany firm called Maha, to supply the equipment after obtaining a “no objection” from the Zambia Public Procurement Authority (ZPPA).
He was speaking in Lusaka this morning during the end of first quarter media briefing.
And Mr. Mwalusaka says the agency is working on ensuring that learner drivers countrywide are subjected to the same procedure when obtaining drivers licenses.
He says the agency is aware of some people leaving Lusaka and opting to get their licenses in other town because of the stringent procedure.
Mr. Mwalusaka says drivers should realize that it is not a desire of the agency that some people fail in getting licenses but it is its mandate to ensure that only qualified drivers are offloaded on the roads.
And RTSA principal examinations Officer Joseph Nkamba has warned members of the public to be wary of driving schools that promise to obtain drivers licenses on behalf of the learner drivers.
Mr. Nkamba says driving schools are not mandated to issue licenses to drivers as it is a sole responsibility of the agency.
He says most of the driving schools that promise to obtain drivers licenses on behalf of a student at a very cheap price operate illegally.
ZNBC
It’s RTSA Lusaka Times, not RATSA!! Goodness!
Iyee bringing germany technology for vehicle examination and inspection?? expect three quarters of those wires parked esp buses.
RTSA still leaves so much to be desired, I don’t think there is a significant drop in the number of accidents. I see so many accident over the weekends especially along great east road due to drunken driving. The certifying of public transport vehicles very pathetic, allowing van to be converted into mini buses were passengers are cramped together. no wounder the high mortality even from small impact. the other thing is no patrols on the major highway were most of the accidents take place mostly due to careless driving.
Ahhh..this Frederick Mwalusaka is still Director at RTSA my goodness, how did he survive the wrath when CEO s of sister bodies RDA and NRFA where fired…ahh sorry he comes from the mwanawasa family like mwakalombe and masebo ok zanveka
Buying inspection systems is a positive development. However, the key missing component is the “road capacity”. If government made dual cariage roads for every 20km on major roads, these sections would temporaly reduce the pressure. You can have sections of about 10km every after 20km of single lanes. Drivers can wait for atleast 20min for a chance to overtake.
WHO HAS REDUCED THEM ………IS IT BECAUSE NOMORE TUJILIJILI…
Motorists as well as other road users should learn and obey road safety rules! Simple rules like pedestrians walking on the right side of the road in order to face oncoming motor traffic. Motorbike riders to wear protective helmets. Motorists to slow down in closed up areas, etc etc. By far the biggest contributor to road traffic accidents is alcohol consumption! Any sensible person will support the recent ban of tujilijili by GRZ. Human life is precious, let us not lose it needlessly!
This is reckless talk which will instil false sense of security in careless drivers. Death toll on Zambian roads is caused mainly by a deadly cocktail of bad infrastructure mixed with careless driving and unfit vehicles. Buying expensive equipment for vehicle examination will not yield or solve anything because you still need law enforcement to keep bad vehicles off the roads. The money could have been better spent on redesigning our main roads, perhaps  partnering with a German road construction company to build toll motorways. Germans have some of the safest motorways in the world. Toll roads will easy the burden of relying on government to fix the roads. Investing in this type of infrastructure will allow us to capture revenue from our foreign friends who use our roads for transit.
False report. Give us the statistics please!
Zambian roads are not safe. Despite the effort to resurface these roads, auxiliary services are not there such as Road signs, lanes are not marked/divided, Since there is no railway system worthy talking about, trucks with heavy loads take up more space on these single lane roads putting smaller vehicles at risk.
These single lane roads hamper efficient goods and service delivery as well. Kindly make all major intercity roads dual carriage road like is the case between Kitwe and Ndola.
Lives are still needlessly lost on all Zambian roads
I think RTSA is claiming more credit than is due to them. We need a clearly defined set of attributes because aside from the (usually unnecessary) restrictions, technology on cars are helping drivers be safe and stop on time, in addition to other measures. Soon it will be useless to test drivers as servo gadgets are quickly being added to even basic models of cars. I always wonder why it is a glorification in Zambia to speak about punishment and restriction instead of examining restraints in safe limits. You can see how silly the idea of installing humps on highways is as an example.
That indeed will be a miracle if accidents reduced on our unbelievable roads. Kitwe chingola road is pathetic too small with wells on the midle of the road. People are going outside lusaka for thier licenses b coz RTSA lusaka is way too corrupt
Key point here some of you non appreciative Zambians is that something is being done. If only the Zambian millionaires would invest in infrastructufre now that jilijilis and other alcoholic beverages are under cages we would rapidly be heading some where good.
I don’t think the RTSA is telling the truth. How do you expect the number of accident to be reduced when there are few roads in the country and a number of vehicles on the roads have increased? Roads that were made before independence when the country had fewer cars are the same roads over 40 years later when there is an increase of cars. Only a fool can buy what the RTSA are selling. We have one lane north and south from Lusaka to Ndola and Ndola to Lusaka, when are you going to wake up and construct more roads to make driving easy for Zambian drivers? Development will not be achieved in  Zambia if the road network is not improved. Don’t you know that civilization started with the constructions of big accessible  roads? The country must be willing to spend money on Roads first.
Banning tujilijili alone will not solve the problem; in America and elsewhere, drinking&driving is still very much a problem. I think the government should help in subsidizing driving schools and vehicle repair for licensed drivers, especially those who own their own buses (not the big bus companies or owners), so that these people can start driving safely. Many bloggers on this site like to complain about the taxi and bus drivers, but most of them are hard working people, and I think if the government made it easier for them to drive safely and have more efficient (and less dangerous) vehicles, they would certainly take that opportunity. Let’s support those small business owners and self-employed people, and also reform the police so that they stop taking bribes!