The Sunday News
Tendai Bhebe, Sunday News Reporter
THE Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe (TSCZ) will embark on road safety campaigns countrywide ahead of the festive season with the aim of reducing traffic accidents and deaths.
In an interview, TSCZ information, communication and technical manager Mr Tatenda Chinoda said they would use social media platforms and hold educational road campaigns to raise awareness on safe driving.
“We are going to engage in educational road campaigns at roadblocks on the country’s highways as we will be meeting and convincing drivers to drive slowly.
“This year’s theme is ‘save lives, slow down’ and we are encouraging drivers to use the appropriate speed because speeding has been the reason for these accidents,” said Mr Chinoda.
“We will also reach out to people through social media, broadcast and print media alerting them on the dangers of speeding and it is high time we stop blaming police or anyone for these accidents,” said Mr Chinoda.
He said this year TSCZ was intensifying its campaigns in a bid to create awareness in individuals about the dangers of irresponsible driving following an increase in traffic accident deaths in the past year.
“There has been an increase in the number of traffic accident deaths, during the festive season last year we recorded 146 cases compared to the same period in 2016 when we recorded 106 deaths.
“This is a sign that we should educate people frequently on the dangers of irresponsible driving through educational campaigns nationwide and the campaign seeks to raise awareness in individuals,” he said.
He said the aim was to reduce road traffic accidents by 50 percent before the year 2030.
He added:
“The volume of traffic on our roads will be high and with this there will be a high risk of traffic mishaps.
“Added to this is the festive euphoria associated with the festive season to the extent of road users getting carried away as reflected by speeding, drunk driving, temptation to drive without licences and night driving.”
“Save lives, slow down. Passengers must demand that drivers slow down to save their lives.
“We are blacklisting travel by mshikashika and we urge all passengers to shun these illegal modes of transport since in most cases the vehicles and other drivers will be unfit,” said Mr Chinoda.
He said people should observe road rules and regulations at all times so as to promote safety and reduce road accident deaths in the country.
@TendaiBhebe
