BCC, police join forces to reduce accidents along Luveve Road

BULAWAYO City Council has joined forces with the police in a bid to reduce traffic accidents along the Luveve Road.

This was said last Friday by Bulawayo town planning officer Shelton Mthunzi Sithole during a talk show on a local radio station.

"There has been a high number of accidents reported on Luveve Road, hence we are working in partnership with the Zimbabwe Republic Police to reduce carnage on the road," Sithole said.

He said the first thing they did was to collect data to establish how and when the accidents were happening.

"Firstly, we collected data from police. If we are to solve this problem, we must know where and how the accidents are happening, the location and time of accidents.

"After collecting data, we put the information on Excel then GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) and we then do special and temporary analysis. Once it's all in GIF, we now know where the accidents are happening and the hotspots."

Sithole said after gathering all the information, they went to ZRP to find out the reasons for the accidents.

"These accidents are mostly caused by non-functional power lights due to electricity outages.  There are no pedestrian crossings, no markings; drivers tend to forget that the road is under construction, hence they make mistakes.  Others drive while absent-minded."

Police said since Luveve Road had a straight stretch, drivers tended to speed despite it being dilapidated.

"There is need to ensure that city engineersplace speed-calming measures on the road," Sithole said.

The road, which had become impassable on the stretch between Matshobane and Mpopoma due to potholes, is being rehabilitated.