The ManicaPost
Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
An average of five people die every day in road traffic accidents across Zimbabwe, the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe (TSCZ) has revealed.
In his keynote address during the launch of the Driver of the Year competition held in Vumba on Sunday, TSCZ general manager, Mr Munyaradzi Munodawafa bemoaned the huge number of lives being lost on the roads.
Mr Munodawafa said his organization, together with other key stakeholders, is now raising the bar in fighting road carnage.
“One life lost on the road is too many. It is sad that we continue to lose innocent lives owing to road carnage. Statistics show that at least five people die every day while 150 lives are lost monthly on average due to road traffic accidents in Zimbabwe. This is like losing the whole village monthly owing to road accidents.
“Together with the Zimbabwe Republic Police, other law enforcing agencies and led by our parent Ministry, we have been making gradual progress over the years and we continue to close the loopholes that errant motorists usually rely on to evade the might of the law.
“Additional legislation will soon be enacted to improve road safety. There will also be additional enforcement measures, including e-enforcement,” he said.
The Driver of the Year competitions have a very long history across the globe since the 1960S when awards were presented to drivers competing in motorsport.
The TSCZ has previously held Driver of the Year competitions as a means of standardizing and improving driving.
However, Driver of the Year competitions also serve as a yardstick for authorities to check whether drivers know the basic road rules and how to apply them.
The competitions were last held in 2018 due the Covid-19 induced lockdown.
Mr Munodawafa said: “This year we aim to re-activate the tradition, reward good driving skills and encourage good driving practices. The competitions usually target drivers of public transport vehicles.”
“The competitions are a great way of enhancing the already existing Defensive Drivers Improvement Programme, commonly known as the Defensive Driving Course (DDC). These competitions are also an important way of creating awareness about road safety and crash prevention.
“This is in line with our target under the National Development Strategy (NDS1), that is to reduce road crashes, injuries and fatalities by 25 percent by 2025 and 50 percent by 2030. Road crashes are a major public health and safety concern in Zimbabwe.
“These competitions also serve as an incentive for the business sector in invest in advanced driver training methods to assist their drivers to be safe on the roads,” said Mr Munodawafa.
He also highlighted some of the major causes of road carnage.
“As TSCZ we note with concern a number of factors contributing to road fatalities. This include abuse of alcohol by both drivers and pedestrians, negligence and speeding. This leads to loss of vehicle control and or the inability to avoid hazards presented by driving situations.
“Cellphone usage while driving, not wearing seatbelts, dangerous overtaking at barrier lines and or overtaking in the face of oncoming traffic are also some of the causes,” he said.
This year’s competitions saw lorry, articulated truck and bus drivers squaring it off.
In the Bus Category, Africa University’s Mr Jacob Mangwende came out first while Mr Freddy Kwakwaraza of the Zimbabwe National Army took the second position.
Mr Shadreck Mupondi of ZNA was third.
In the Rigid Category, Mr Karira Stephen of ZNA came first while Ms Violet Mvundura, again from ZNA, came second.
Mr Tangwena Tobias of the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services was third.
For the Articulated Category, the overall winner was Mr Njabulo Shumba of Verify Engineering.
Zimbabwe has in the past partook in the Driver of the Year competitions in countries such as South Africa (2014), Poland (2016), Finland (2018) and Belgium (2020).
