The Sunday News
Stanford Chiwanga
SOME things never change and the disgusting driving habits of some drivers on our roads stand out like a sore thumb. Campaign after campaign on road safety, it appears, has failed to bring the desired effect on drivers.
The number of accidents that occur on our roads are shocking and the national death toll is depressing. The police have blamed the rising accidents on the motorists’ disregard for traffic laws. Other reasons include poorly maintained vehicles and public roads. Poor weather conditions and lack of focus when driving have also contributed to the road fatalities.
The sad thing is that these accidents and deaths do not act as a deterrent to motorists who only obey traffic rules and regulations when they see enforcement authorities, roadblocks and speed traps.
The careless attitude of drivers bent on rushing to reach their destinations gives a bad image to the country and its people.
Traffic police repeatedly remind drivers to drive safely and to think of their loved ones, but the message is not heeded.
Bulawayo provincial police spokesperson Inspector Precious Simango said they had noted with concern the “deplorable behaviour” of motorists particularly in the Central Business District (CBD).
“The behaviour and attitude exhibited by public transport operators and some private motorists can’t go unchecked. We’ve of late been experiencing an increase in avoidable traffic accidents, with some leading to unnecessary loss of lives or serious injuries and damages.
“It’s in this vein that everyone is called upon to co-operate with the police and comply with orders. We strongly warn members of the public against making any attempts to bribe our officers on duty as this is an offence. On average the CBD records 378 accidents monthly and this is unacceptable,” said Insp Simango.
Some drivers also take an indifferent attitude when it came to maintaining their vehicles, such as ensuring the efficiency of disc brakes, tyres, lights and screen wipers.
This is the major reason traffic police mount road blocks and frequently carry out operations to weed out wayward motorists and to impound vehicles that are not road worthy. Surprisingly, the same motorists then cry foul and accuse the police of being unfair when they are fully aware that they are in the wrong. The word police means the civil force of a state responsible for the prevention and detection of crime and the maintenance of public order — if you are wrong you will be arrested and complaining about roadblocks is nothing but an attempt to prevent the police from doing their duties.
“Roadblocks are part of our police side duties, we cannot completely do away with roadblocks because now there is chaos and people have been complaining that the police are now behaving as if they don’t care. People are saying ZRP has now developed an attitude that shows that you no longer want to do your job,” national spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba said.
The revenue that the police generate from traffic offences run into millions every year — $15 million annually — this reflects the motorists’ disregard for traffic rules. The drivers are stubborn and the fine structure is hardly any deterrent. This clearly shows that in Zimbabwe we have traffic rules but no traffic discipline. Safe driving should not come because of fear of a fine or traffic police but should be a way of life.
A culture change among motorists that will result in rampant safe driving is needed. This starts from instructing the friendly traffic policeman or woman to stop the erring driver and make him well aware of the possible consequences of his offence. It is pleasing that the traffic police are already doing that.
The traffic rules are clear that drivers should not exceed the carrying capacity of their vehicles but it is common practice in Zimbabwe. In Bulawayo you will hardly find a public transport vehicle with the stipulated number of passengers. These vehicles are visible to the police and the police go out of their way to stop the drivers, but somehow the police are criticised for stopping, arresting the drivers and impounding the vehicles. The drivers should just ensure that their vehicles are road worthy and stop singling out traffic police for doing their job.
In Bulawayo more than 100 vehicles have been impounded in the past two weeks for various offences and will be subjected to rigorous screening processes by the city council, VID, the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) vehicle theft squad and Zinara.
Traffic laws exist for a reason. They help maintain law and order, prevent carnage and most importantly reduce deaths in what is unequivocally the most dangerous mode of transportation on the planet. But drivers seem oblivious of this — there is a sheer volume of maniacal drivers, cars held together with miniscule strips of dangling masking tape, Honda Fits transporting an entire army of workers and of course a wonderful lack of public intelligence when it comes to the actual rules of the road.
“Driving unregistered vehicles, unroadworthy vehicles and driving while unlicensed to drive are some of the prevalent offences in the city centre that need to stop forthwith. Police are conducting campaigns warning the motoring public against this wayward behaviour that threatens to reduce the once respectable city into anarchy. We’ve also partnered with the Bulawayo City Council traffic department, the Vehicle Inspection Department (VID) and Zinara, to bring order in the city,” said Insp Simango.
According to statistics, the majority of accidents taking place on our roads have roots to reckless driving. The others have roots to jaywalking, inadequate punishment for causing accidents, unskilled drivers, faulty roads and highways, ignoring traffic rules, violating traffic signals and road signs, using mobile phones while driving and driving for long hours.
Time and again, different quarters have argued that stringent enforcement of traffic rules and regulations, and routine examination of fitness certificate and other relevant documents of motorised vehicles and driving licences of their drivers could play a major role in bringing down the number of road traffic accidents and fatalities. It has been pointed out many times that reckless driving, especially by bus and truck drivers, continues unabated because there has hardly been any decisive and demonstrative actions against such an obvious violation of traffic rules and regulations.
Both within city parameters and on highways, motorists break the law at will. However, it is pleasing that traffic police in Bulawayo do not look the other way even when the public cries foul.
Insp Simango said: “As the police we seek to indiscriminately discharge our duties as provided for in the constitution.
Members of the public are therefore warned against boarding vehicles at undesignated areas as such behaviour attracts a penalty of $5. Once a person pays such a fine on three occasions, they will be taken to court where a custodial sentence may be given.”
But even when law enforcers stop the offenders, which is quite common, most of them get away with fines. In the end, prohibitive legal precedents, required to prevent such activities, are not set. To prevent accidents and related casualties, the authorities concerned must order competent and credible inquiry into each traffic violation and have the responsible individuals prosecuted and punished severely.
What needs to be pointed out is that the law really needs to be serious about punishing traffic offenders. Until now such an approach seems to be missing as the violators of traffic laws are rarely punished ruthlessly by the courts, a scenario which many believe has aggravated the situation. Traffic management must be streamlined to deal with the endless accidents on our roads. The authorities also need to realise that the enforcement of rules is a prime requisite for restoring order on our roads and thus ensuring safety of passengers and pedestrians alike. Such enforcement also entails demonstrative punishment for offenders.
Indeed structural changes are needed in penalties and driver licensing tests, but those are medium and long term measures.
Long term measures should obviously also focus on better public transportation. But in the short term, additional traffic police manpower is absolutely essential. Also, the deployment of camera-based enforcement is critical. Wherever technology can help in better enforcement, it has to be actively used. Enforcement needs to done not only at signals, but at random spots along the roads. Traffic violators should worry about getting caught anywhere, and at any time. A culture of discipline will take a long time to build — it starts with fear of law. If you break a traffic law you will get caught and punished.
Drivers have also complained that it is difficult and expensive to maintain their vehicles due to the poor state of roads that local authorities have failed to repair. The local authorities hide behind the usual excuse of lack of funds. But is it really lack of funds or waste of funds due to delays in implementation and misplaced priorities? We will answer that question on another day, but it is pleasing that the Government led by President Mnangagwa has decided to repair our roads after realising that local authorities seem not to be bothered.
