Story by Peter Chivhima
THE Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) has urged parliamentarians to consider introducing a legal framework to curb night travel by public service vehicles, citing its significant contribution to road traffic accidents.
This appeal comes in the wake of yet another fatal accident, which claimed four lives along the Karoi–Binga Road on Sunday evening.
ZRP Spokesperson, Commissioner Paul Nyathi, said poor visibility and hazardous road conditions during the night, particularly during the cold season, remain major risk factors.
“The accident in question occurred at night, and given the cold weather these days, visibility is significantly compromised. We have consistently urged motorists to avoid night driving to help reduce road carnage and promote safety. Unfortunately, we currently do not have a legal framework in place to regulate or restrict night driving for public transport vehicles, something we strongly believe Parliament should urgently consider,” Commissioner Nyathi said.
A road safety awareness campaign dubbed, “Be Road Safe Zimbabwe 2025” was held in Harare this Tuesday, with various stakeholders in attendance.
The Deputy Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Development, Honourable Joshua Sacco, highlighted some of the steps being taken by the government to address road safety concerns.
“As the government, we recognise the threat posed by road traffic fatalities to health and development. We are fully committed to the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety (2021–2030), with the goal of reducing accidents by 50 percent by 2030. This target is also enshrined in our National Development Strategy 1. To achieve this, we are implementing key measures including, rolling out an electronic traffic management system to bring order to our roads. Procuring additional breathalysers for use at roadblocks,” he said.
According to the statistics from the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe, about 2 000 people die in road traffic accidents annually.
