Buses banned from travelling at night

The government has escalated measures to prevent road accidents and has also banned public transport vehicles from travelling during the night.

These were some of the resolutions arrived at during today's cabinet meeting.

Briefing the media after the meeting, the Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, July Moyo said public transport vehicles will not be allowed to travel during the night as a way of averting potential road accidents.

The Acting Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Nqobizitha Ndlovu said loss of lives on the country's roads has become unprecedented in the past few months and the government has resolved to institute regulatory measures and social safety nets to deal with this scourge.

Various 100 day priority projects were also adopted including the segmentation of the Harare - Masvingo - Beitbridge highway to expand the road to fast track the dualisation programme.

The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development will embark on countrywide road safety campaigns ahead of the festive season in a bid to reduce road carnage.

November was a dark month as several road traffic accidents afflicted the nation resulting in loss of human capital.

The Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development, Joel Biggie Matiza said road accidents can be reduced if all were to follow road safety regulations.

"We have had the dark hours in terms of road accidents in November. Now going forward, we will institute a countrywide road safety awareness campaign during this forthcoming festive season and work closely with the Ministry of Home Affairs to come up with ways to reduce road accidents during the festive season. Police officers will be on the roads with the Vehicle Inspection Department to inspect vehicles," said Minister Matiza.

Last year, 146 accidents were recorded during the festive season alone.