The Sunday News
Lovert Mafukure
For long we have campaigned for safer, sober driving, for long we have advocated for life preservation on our roads and for far too long we have passed the message that every driver has to be responsible on our roads.
The same roads are carrying a father, a mother and someone’s children, and their families are waiting for them — do not be the factor that takes them out of their family equation.
It is so unfortunate that we are missing something and these roads are taking the ones we love. What are we to do?
Most of the accidents on our roads are a result of human error. An accident happened earlier last week that claimed the lives of 47 people.
It was all because someone was trying to overtake in front of oncoming traffic. Slight misjudgement has cost so much.
They say patience is a virtue, if one driver had been patient enough, someone’s mother would still be alive right now.
There is a simple rule that governs all road travel, I have termed it simply — the simple rule and that is, do not venture where you cannot see! That means it’s a big NO to overtake on curves, blind rises or against oncoming traffic.
It’s following simple rules like this that will always make our roads safer for everyone.
Our roads are very narrow and hopefully one day they will be widened.
Narrow roads call for patience. Passenger-service-vehicle operators especially have to be patient because they carry human life.
They shouldn’t be found overtaking in front of oncoming traffic no matter how fast their buses can go. It only takes a second of misjudgement for a disaster to happen.
With that said, slow down, wait for the road ahead to clear up and overtake when you can see far ahead.
The narrowness of our roads also means that you cannot overtake on blind rises, you never know what’s after the blind rise.
Do not leave anything to chance. Life is all about calculations and so is driving, follow the simple rule and you will be safe and your passengers will thank you.
These are the people you swore to take care of when you got your Class 1 driver’s licence.
Many bus drivers have been named and shamed for bad driving and that included overtaking where overtaking is prohibited and on curving roads.
I’m not too sure what all the rush is for when the old adage goes “there’s no rush in Africa.”
As tall as these buses are you find them going as fast as 140km/hr, 60km over the limit! Again, where are we really missing it? Is life not precious?
Transporters chase targets, they are after every dollar that they can get everyday. We all could use an extra dollar but somehow I feel that we need to put the lives of the people we carry on our buses on our high priority list, this is human life, it is precious, it is sacred and God forbid if there be any of your loved ones that have passed on in that accident but imagine if any of your people were on it. My heart and prayers go to all the families.
We have established that these new buses coming from the east like the Yutongs are too fast, they cruise nice and easy at speeds way over the stipulated maximum speed of 80km/hr.
I have personally been overtaken by these buses like I was playing on the road and that brings me to my point that all these buses registered for public service must be governed to 80km/hr.
By law, they are not supposed to exceed 80km/hr but obviously they are not obeying the laws of the land and its costing many lives.
Passenger service vehicles in Zambia were banned from travelling between 2100hrs and 0500hrs. This came after a high record of fatal accidents at night due to fatigued drivers.
It is well to note that with night driving, people suffer from fatigue and many accidents have occurred where drivers would have lost concentration or drifted into some kind of sleep while driving.
It is something well worth considering in Zimbabwe if we are to reduce road carnage.
Apart from all this, the fitness of these buses is of paramount importance.
Suspension needs to be fit, tyres need to be fit for road use.
The use of used tyres is a big No. People need to be schooled well on the use of used tyres.
Imported used tyres are condemned tyres. It’s either they are worn or they have some defects that cannot be seen using the naked eyes.
Buses have killed people because of burst tyres so bus companies need to be a bit more pro-active when it comes to road safety.
The say the smallest things make the biggest difference, the Government can only go as far in ensuring safe roads for everyone but we as the people should go all the way in ensuring that everyone is safe on our roads.
I will start with myself, driving more carefully, exercising patience and tolerance. You should start with yourself and soon our roads will be safe!
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