Atase. Floyd Mayweather versus Manny Pacquiao 'Fight
of the Century', my foot. Now that I have got that out of my chest, I can move
on to more serious matters that are genuinely worthy of my time and deserve
someone staying up all night for. Another tragic accident occurred this past
week in Kalomo which claimed the lives of eight individuals, seven of whom were
from the same family. It seems road traffic accidents have become our Achilles
heel and the number of lives that are being lost is alarming. In order to
address, this situation the government has decided to come up with a 'genius'
idea, why not have an Accident Museum.
An Accident
Museum, really government, seriously government, is that the best you can come
up with. Ok, let us accept for a moment that this Accident Museum idea actually
goes ahead just how exactly is it supposed to work. Is it supposed to act like some tourist
attraction where people go check out mangled up cars and how people died or
lost a leg. I can just imagine this conversation.
Girlfriend: Honey what are we doing for Valentine's Day?
Boyfriend: Darling today is a special day, am taking you
to the Accident Museum.
Anything that has
to do with the fear factor hardly works. Look at countries that still have the
death penalty for drug traffickers, people still risk it. At best the Accident
Museum will just become an educational place for primary school pupils to have a
day out. And by the time these pupils reach driving eligibility age they would
have forgotten about the museum itself. Quite frankly, I would not find myself
going to the museum. I do not want to go and see accident crashes, mashed up
cars and being told the gory details of how each accident happened.
The sad part about
this mess is that there many good drivers in Zambia but all it takes is one reckless
driver to try and overtake at a curve and that decision ruins the lives of
families forever. From the Accident Museum, what will be next perhaps putting
humps on every high ways. I personally think one short term measure can be that
passengers in cars, buses and any other public transport need to take more
responsibility. If a driver is over speeding they need to demand that they
reduce their speed. I do not know how many people know the RTSA hotline and
actually use it to report reckless driving and what actually happens when
someone reports. RTSA may also consider placing camera's on high ways too.
What do you think
can be done about the road traffic accident situation in Zambia?
I happened to be driving to Livingstone around the same period that the accident occurred. Actually the image of the mangled Toyota Noah near Kalomo still haunts me to this day. Many of the accidents on our roads are caused by driver stupidity. The way some people drive on these roads you would think they are auditioning for Formula 1. It is understandable that driving is probably not the luxury it was previously, but the excitement on our roads has to be contained. In the end there is not much anyone can do about drivers who are obsessed with overtaking and display all the patience of a lactating Rhinoceros.
ReplyDeletePeople should learn that once on the road you are not competing with anyone. The road is a public good and the next person enjoys just as much of right to use it as yourself. There is no need for these pitiful duels that one sees on our roads. I also think RATSA should tighten the screening process for awarding licences. I have had my fair share of idiots who know nothing about basic driving rules, so much that I have often been left wondering how such even obtained licences.
Pleasure reading your blog as always.
Getting to change the mindset on the roads is the great big question that we need to answer. I do not know if more road blocks, accident museums would work. I think the stripping of licenses or license suspension would be a good.
DeleteThanks for reading Keith highly appreciated
if we are people who work with statistics, we should take note that the accident graph has spiraled since the formula 1 and link Zambia were embarked on, as such, i would advice RTSA or GRZ to not only look into the drivers but also the standard of the roads, they might be good yet not so compatible with the dynamics of the machines moving on them. Then GRZ must not only work on roads but also the railway system to bring it to better standards in terms of price, comfortability and efficiency(time taken to travel a given distance) which will in turn discourage the use of personal vehicles for long distance travels. if possible they should also mount readily available paramedics within a give distance, this will reduce the number of people dying when the are involved in accidents. INFOR
ReplyDeleteI think we already have accidents museums at the police stations where all the mangled cars are parked and the truth is no one goes to view them. lol.
ReplyDelete