‘War’ Against Road Traffic Accidents

BY Moses Simbao

ROAD MARKINGS/ROAD SIGNS

Amateurs should not be allowed to do road markings and signs.
Road markings and signs should be done in a season that is appropriate.
road markings and signs should be done on weekends or

holidays, proper communication should be given with adequate

timings.

Supervision should be adequate when these road markings and signs are being done.
If this work was done by in-house personnel, then another alternative

is to out source.

There must be a way to monitor road signs and markings.
Any damage caused (by individuals) to road markings or signs must

attract a penalty.

Special signs must be marked on dangerous sites like manenekela.

DISTRACTERS

Distracters in terms of bill boards is not only the location, position of the billboards but also the lighting of a billboard which act as a

distraction especially in the night. A lot of billboards in a

particular place with sharp lighting is also a danger.

Traffic lights must be monitored regularly to fix them and also to

improve them.

HUMAN BEHAVIORS

OVERLOADING

Given the effect of overloading, no vehicle whether school vehicles, Church vehicles, government vehicles etc should be allowed to

overload, and punishment should follow for overloading.

In terms of passengers, authorities should be give the passengers the power of Citizen Arrest. If a passenger vehicle is impounded for

Overloaded, without the passengers calling the authorities or issuing

a Citizens arrest, then the passengers must be punished as well for

failing to do so.

SPEED

If the vehicle is over speeding with passengers inside especially

Passenger vehicles, and passengers have not issued a citizens arrest

or called the authorities, then there must be a way to punish the

Passengers.

If Company vehicles have been caught for over speeding on three or four occasions, the license of that Company must be suspended for six months.
If the Company is unrepentant, the operation license for such a Company must be withdrawn.

NIGHT DRIVING

An night speed requires greater attention and the faster the driving speed, the more visual perception is reduced. The field of vision which is 100 at 40km/h becomes 30 at 130km/h

What is field of vision?

The space or range within which objects are visible to the immobile eyes at a given time.
When testing Drivers, there should be also eye testing for would be Drivers.

Vehicles that

A lot of concentration should be given to night driving, given that most fatal road accidents in this country happen at night.

SEATBELTS

The continuation and 2nd part of this article will be published on the next day.

Posted by Admin on February 27, 2014. Filed under LATEST NEWS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

10 Responses to ‘War’ Against Road Traffic Accidents

Koswe Banda Reply

February 27, 2014 at 10:58 pm

What ve u being waiting 4 all these years silly chaps. Get On yo tolls. Wake up!!!!!!!
kolwe mulenga Reply

February 28, 2014 at 3:27 am

Ulembele fye ifya bupuba fyekafyeka
T.K Reply

February 28, 2014 at 8:00 am

It will neva work.How many times have we proposed these ideas.Painting of road markings is a waste of time.How do you paint in the morning the next two days the markings are not visible completely fade out.
MUSONA Reply

February 28, 2014 at 8:21 am

Satanism, satanism in zambia
Bind Reply

February 28, 2014 at 4:42 pm

Its likely to be more of satanism. However drunken behaviour, wrong speed, poor vehicle condition, impatience and general foolishness also contribute. Eg you overtake when you are into a depression or at a bend or too many vehicles at once when you know your car is not a super car these points contribute to what we have termed foolishness, not saying you are not educated etc, no!
Bind Reply

February 28, 2014 at 4:45 pm

Please note that in the case of foolishness sometimes it is of the other driver not necessarily yourself. Also abit of bad luck but that is minimal eg where a tyre looking still in good condition suddenly bursts thats bad luck but in Zambia i think number one is satanism, two general foolishness, other factors follow.
Ngombala Muhapi wa Linaha Reply

March 1, 2014 at 8:01 pm

I do not know whether people really realize that the problem with these road accidents has nothing to do with poor driving skills. Every time Sata is near death and he leaves the country, “busi ya beuka” and many people die, followed by Ukwa coming back from India with a new lease of lease. What we are faced with is prime evil!
Kasama Swag Reply

March 2, 2014 at 4:09 pm

Useless article, aka wa lemba kama fontini, muleeya nakusukulu.
Sibwiidu Reply

March 3, 2014 at 8:17 am

Also increase the driver’s license fee to a level such that when involved in an accident, the license is suspended for a year and for one to get it back they have to go back for testing..in shot start all over again. This will make people very responsible..I would suggest minimum of K5000 with other costs added
Mayo Mayo Reply

March 3, 2014 at 9:50 am

The other contributing factors are poor roads especcially here in Chingola, the roads are pathetic. Nothing to do with satanism his Exellence should quicky look into this rather that concentrating on the main roads like Kitwe – Chingola Road accidents do happen every where.