Story by Peter Chivhima
ZIMBABWE is taking a significant step towards safer roads with the launch of a month-long Road Safety Audits Training Programme in Harare this Thursday.
In a bid to address the rising number of road traffic accidents in the country, the Road Safe Zimbabwe Trust has partnered with key stakeholders in road administration to introduce this comprehensive training initiative.
The launch event, held in Harare, saw participants from various towns joining virtually.
“The symposium is critical to us as engineers and it allows us to share ideas on how to reduce road carnage by coming up with sustainable road infrastructure,” Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development’s Engineer Zimunya said.
“This meeting is crucial especially to me as a student because looking at our road infrastructure, there is a lot which needs to be done especially in terms of managing the traffic,” a University of Zimbabwe student, Mitchell Musemwa added.
The Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe’s Managing Director, Mr Munesu Munodawafa and the Road Safe Zimbabwe Executive Director, Mr Sam Nyaude are convinced the launch will go a long way in reducing road carnage.
“The road safety audits and the training we are having here is brought to get a number of engineers from various institutions, from ZINARA to the local authorities and even the department of roads, where we are reflecting and saying, let us review our infrastructure. Let us see what things could be done to improve road safety. Let us look at the infrastructure around it and say, is it forgiving. In the event of an accident, is somebody likely to survive,” Mr Munodawafa said.
“This Road Safety Audits training programme is a necessary initiative because we recognise that road design plays a critical role in preventing collisions. We are emphasizsng the safe systems approach to road safety, which acknowledges that human error is inevitable,” Mr Nyaude said.
“The safe systems approach prioritises designing roads that minimise harm in the event of mistakes. This means no one should be seriously injured or killed due to road design. To achieve this, our engineers, urban planners, and city planners must design roads that accommodate multiple modes of transportation, allow people and vehicles to coexist with minimal conflict.”
The launch comes at a time when the nation is experiencing a surge in road traffic accidents, with eight people having perished at the Dzivarasekwa Turn-Off along Bulawayo Road two weeks ago.
