300 buses lost to accidents annually

Transport operators in Zimbabwe are losing an average of 300 buses per year due to road traffic accidents with companies approaching the police for stricter speed monitoring to curb the carnage, a senior police officer has said.

This comes after bus crews have been accused of reckless driving, contributing to a high accident rate.

According to a recent Zimbabwe Statistical Agency report, at least 604 people died while 2 624 were injured out of the 12 564 road traffic accidents recorded in the third quarter of 2023.

ZRP PGHQ operations — Traffic Section Chief Superintendent Clever Maramidzwe told NewsDay that the bus operators were requesting stricter enforcement of speed limits in a bid to reduce reckless driving and accidents.

"The transport operators have been losing an average of 300 buses per year and most of those buses were new. So they approached us, pleading to be assisted. "They also went on to install a command centre at Harare Traffic where we can monitor them. This was done by the operators themselves," Maramidzwe said.

He said the new system worked by automatically flashing an alert on a screen at the command centre whenever a bus exceeds the 100km per hour speed limit. The police then contact the driver directly, inquiring about the reason for speeding and directing them to the nearest police station for a ticket.

Maramidzwe said the number of road accidents in Zimbabwe increased by 1%, despite a target to reduce accidents by 25% every year."We are expected to reduce accidents by 25% every year but we are actually increasing 1% every year. It's like we are now at 26% of the target," he said.

In a bid to curb the alarming rate of accidents, the government is implementing a new system that includes fitting all buses with speed-limit devices.

The government also said it would not hesitate to suspend and cancel licences for drivers and operators who violate traffic rules and regulations.