ZRP Should Enforce Stiffer Penalties For Private Operators

The Zimbabwe Republic Police ought to put tight laws on private operators to ensure that they are fully eliminated from the roads so as to avoid the continuous loss of life that is being experienced in Zimbabwean highways.

The government banned private operators in March last year in favor of ZUPCO to ensure that commuters are relieved from heavy transport fares.

Despite ZUPCO ‘favorable charges’, the shortage of buses for the whole country is creating a huge problem as private operators are now left with no option but to fit in and cover the gap.

However this has led to an increase in traffic accident cases which is currently being experienced by many people who are losing their lives because of private operators who drive recklessly without following highway rules.

There is therefore need for the police to fully enforce laws that ban and ensure that private operators travel within speed limits.

Meanwhile, twenty people were yesterday killed when a Toyota Granvia burst a tyre and collided head-on with a Toyota Wish at the 61km peg along Masvingo-Zvishavane Road near Chitowa business centre just after Mhandamabwe.

Eighteen people died on the spot while two died on admission at Zvishavane District Hospital, where three seriously injured passengers are receiving treatment.

The Toyota Granvia, which was travelling from Masvingo, had a tyre burst and moved towards a Toyota Wish which was coming from Zvishavane.

The continuous loss of lives which are caused by private operators as well as drivers who are not practicing caution on highways has destroyed lives of many people annually hence tight police roadblocks on highway roads will be relevant to ease the current situation.

On June 7 and 8, six people died while 15 others were injured in two separate accidents along the Harare-Mutare highway and the Harare-Chirundu highway.

In the first accident, two women and a boy died while nine other passengers were injured when their Toyota Hiace vehicle rolled several times before landing on  its roof.

In the second accident, three people died while six were injured when a Honda Fit car side-swiped a haulage truck at the 94km peg along the Harare-Chirundu highway.

On March 5, 13 people were killed in two separate road accidents which occurred in Manicaland and Mashonaland Provinces.

In Manicaland Province, seven people — four Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Service (ZPCS) officers, two civilians and an inmate  were killed when the pick-up truck in which they were travelling collided head-on with a fuel tanker at the 67km peg along the Mutare-Nyanga Road.

Two inmates survived the fatal accident and were rushed to Bonda Mission Hospital.

In a separate incident, six people died on the spot on the 135km peg along the Harare-Mukumbura Road when a motorist lost control of his vehicle and hit a pedestrian who had just disembarked from another vehicle and five others who were reportedly walking on the  road verge.

These are some of the road fatalities that are happening and claiming a lot of innocent lives hence the police need to enforce stiffer penalties on private operators and private vehicles to drive with caution and avoid speeding.

Awareness campaigns need to be spread across the country through radio, television and social media platforms to ensure that we reduce and wipe away the current road accidents.

 

A Journalist, writer and photographer

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