News / National
'Govt needs to review drivers' licensing law,' says Obert Mpofu
17 Apr 2014 at 03:55hrs | Views
Government should have a re-look at legal statues regulating the licensing of public drivers including age restrictions, Transport and Infrastructural Development minister Obert Mpofu said Wednesday.
Mpofu told delegates at a national awareness workshop on problems of stray animals that official statistics show that drivers aged between 24-30 years were responsible for more fatal accidents that those who are above 40.
"We have more unlicensed drivers on our roads than licensed ones and according to statistics presented to us by the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe (TSCZ), younger drivers are killing more people and causing a lot of suffering (to our people) than older drivers," said Mpofu.
"It is a reflection of something wrong with our system and we are working to correct that. The sad part is that we have bus operators employing unlicensed drivers."
He said this was enough reason for government to review the law.
"We do not need anything beyond this to review our statutes, and better still, realign them. I am particularly concerned with the age groups that we have entrusted with so many lives," he said.
The Transport minister said his department was now working on the Zimbabwe Integrated Transport Information Management System (Zimtis), which is set to interconnect all governmental entities dealing with the transport sector.
Meanwhile, participants to the workshop, including chiefs said, after the Land Reform programme there had been a marked increase in stray animals that have caused unnecessary accidents. To this end Mpofu said stiffer penalties were required as well as co-ordinated efforts between government departments.
"The colonialists had very small penalties, but were ruthless in the enforcement of these laws including meting out capital punishment. There is need for harsher penalties because there have been cases of rural people driving cattle onto roads with a deliberate aim of causing accidents in order to loot from (victims of) accident scenes," he said.
Mpofu told delegates at a national awareness workshop on problems of stray animals that official statistics show that drivers aged between 24-30 years were responsible for more fatal accidents that those who are above 40.
"We have more unlicensed drivers on our roads than licensed ones and according to statistics presented to us by the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe (TSCZ), younger drivers are killing more people and causing a lot of suffering (to our people) than older drivers," said Mpofu.
"It is a reflection of something wrong with our system and we are working to correct that. The sad part is that we have bus operators employing unlicensed drivers."
"We do not need anything beyond this to review our statutes, and better still, realign them. I am particularly concerned with the age groups that we have entrusted with so many lives," he said.
The Transport minister said his department was now working on the Zimbabwe Integrated Transport Information Management System (Zimtis), which is set to interconnect all governmental entities dealing with the transport sector.
Meanwhile, participants to the workshop, including chiefs said, after the Land Reform programme there had been a marked increase in stray animals that have caused unnecessary accidents. To this end Mpofu said stiffer penalties were required as well as co-ordinated efforts between government departments.
"The colonialists had very small penalties, but were ruthless in the enforcement of these laws including meting out capital punishment. There is need for harsher penalties because there have been cases of rural people driving cattle onto roads with a deliberate aim of causing accidents in order to loot from (victims of) accident scenes," he said.
Source - Zim Mail
