Many unroad worth vehicles pass through police roadblocks- senator

Senator Angeline Masuku has said there are many unroad worth vehicles which pas through the police road blocks everyday but no action has been taken by the authorities.

He said the government has contributions on the road carnage because of the condition of on the roads.

"They have talked about some of the cars which we find on our roads, which according to the states of our roads and mechanical conditions of the cars, are not supposed to be on the roads.  Most of the blame is on human error.  We know that this motion has been discussed before and emphasis has been placed on the condition of our roads and what could be done to improve the state of our roads so that we can curb the road carnage," said Masuku.

"We have noticed that some of the accidents are caused by domestic animals due to carelessness of human error. We had fences which were put along the roads to prevent animals from straying into the roads. The fences were removed by certain people.  Since these fences were removed, we now find that there are many animals which are straying into the roads causing accidents."

Masuku said people are dying because of these accidents and in some cases and  donkeys being stubborn on the roads.

 "Therefore, I recommend that we have empowered people in each district or centre to look after the portion of their road, that is the fence.  They should be responsible for policing those areas. The known fact is that the fence is not stolen or taken by people from outside but by people from the neighbourhood. They know each other and if they are empowered and told to take care of their section of the road, they will be able to look after the fence.  Nobody will be able to steal it," Masuku said.

"I will now turn to the condition of cars on the roads.  You can tell by the sound of a car that it is in a bad condition and can cause road carnage and accidents.  What surprises me is that such a car in such a condition goes through a road block. What really boggles the mind is that if you own a car and you do not maintain and service it, it will have a shorter life."

Masuku said the car will also be a danger to health and therefore there is a need to take care, love, maintain and repair cars.

"I plead with the police that at any road block or at any inspection point, they should put emphasis that cars should be examined.  I have also noticed that in some cases, the road blocks are conducted by both the police and the Vehicle Inspection Department (VID). I urge the VID to confiscate a car which is in a bad condition but on the road and keep it until the owner has taken it and sent it for repair and it has obtained a fitness certificate. Therefore, as car owners, we need to take care of our cars because a car in bad condition is a health hazard or life hazard to the people of Zimbabwe.  As people of Zimbabwe, we need to understand that," he said.

"I will now look at the recklessness of the drivers in these roads. I do not know what bogs the minds, when a driver gets into the car, put on the ignition, steps on the pedal and the vehicle goes into life; I am surprised, it seems as if there is some excitement which gets into that driver.  What really mesmerises me is that this excitement does not occur only on the youngsters whom we can say they are new to this phenomenon of driving but even the grey haired individuals are also careless."

She said they have this unnecessary excitement and when they are driving they feel they are in cloud nine.

"Nobody is sharing that cloud with them and hence they cause these accidents because when one is driving, there is this recklessness and carelessness. Some of these people especially the omnibus, taxis and the kombi drivers, they are not aware, they seem not to care that they are carrying precious lives," Masuku said.  "As far as they are concerned, they seem to be carrying donkeys, horses, stones or even sand or bricks.  They do not care about people's lives but it is my plea and request that whenever a driver is performing his duty, he should be very careful and remember that he is carrying precious lives or human beings.  I have realised that the excitement occurs to both the old and the youngsters."

Masuku said in the recent past, we had a school child who was run over and killed by a kombi.

"Surprisingly, the driver of this kombi was above 40 years.  This heartless man had the audacity to try and run out of the country instead of assisting and going to apologise.  According to our African culture, when you have blundered, you have to go to the people whom you have wronged and apologise.  It is so heartless that you apologise at the courts to the police or the parents of the child," said Masuku.

"These heartless people do not care about life.  What really hurts is that these people who are involved in accidents try to run away.  My feeling is that if these careless drivers are convicted, the penalty should be heavy.  This young girl was a future leader and parent.  Her parents had high expectations on their child but now that daughter is no more due to the heartlessness and carelessness of one driver."

Masuku said the driver had the audacity of killing somebody and got out of the country, which shows that he has no sense of feeling.  She said it was just like running over an ant or sliding over a banana skin.

"My feeling is that somebody who has killed somebody in a car accident under such circumstances is very similar to a murderer.  We are saying, you should have that feeling in you that when you are getting into your car and driving off, you should be saying I am leaving my home being somebody who is alive and during my trip, I should not disturb any of the fellow drivers, pedestrians and I should also take care of myself so that I return to my home and family in one piece.  Hence, my request is that people should have conscience and care about others.  I certainly support this motion that people's lives are lost carelessly in road carnage," she said.