Horror bus crash raises safety concerns

AFTER the horror bus crash that claimed 26 lives along the Harare-Nyamapanda highway, road traffic safety is taking centre stage once again. Tragedy struck along the highway following a head-on collision involving two buses, which left 26 people dead and dozens injured. The buses collided at the 35 kilometre peg along the highway.

One, owned by Pioneer, rolled off the road and was left mangled on its side, killing the driver in the process. The other, owned by the Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (ZUPCO) was completely caved in from the front - suffering extensive damage and killing almost half the passengers.

Police say the Pioneer bus, which was travelling to the capital, made a sharp right turn, crossed the median and slammed into the other bus travelling to Mutoko.  The impact sent it sliding down the highway, while in the process tearing into the ZUPCO bus. This tragedy brings the issue of bus safety to light.

The horror crash followed a series of devastating accidents that claimed lives over the past year. It also comes in the same week that 11 Zimbabwean cross boarder traders died in Botswana when a commuter omnibus they were travelling in hit a donkey and overturned. Lately, Zimbabwe's roads have become death traps owing to the high accident rates. ZUPCO, in which government has a controlling shareholding, has been one of the culprits.

Last August, 13 people died on the same highway when a ZUPCO bus veered off the road and plunged into a bridge.  In April last year, four people also lost their lives when a ZUPCO bus was swept away while trying to cross a flooded bridge in Shurugwi. In 2013, accidents involving ZUPCO buses along the Harare-Bulawayo highway claimed a total of 21 lives.

Many have blamed the high accident rates on the terrible state of the country's roads. But there are many other factors that should be considered as well. Police are attributing the accidents to careless driving - speeding, erroneous overtaking and over correcting once a vehicle starts swerving - things that all drivers learn before taking their road test. But seldom has the issue of vehicle fitness been brought to question.

A senior automotive engineer who works for a parastatal, CMED (Private) Limited, was critical of the type of buses imported by ZUPCO and other transport operators. "Those buses are under scrutiny for good reason although driver error often is blamed when the buses crash. Most of them do not have seatbelts, vastly increasing the likelihood of injuries and deaths in an accident. The main thing is we make sure they have got seatbelts. One certain things is that in this particular accident the impact ejected a number of those who were not wearing seatbelts, that is if the bus had them at all, (out of the bus)," said the mechanic who cannot be named because he has no permission to speak to the press.

The mechanic said the extensive damage suffered by the ZUPCO bus cast doubts about whether it was subjected to crash resistance tests before being released into the market.  The bus is one of the 50 the company imported from China in 2013.
ZUPCO claims the buses were "custom-made for it."

"One only needs to see the massive damage it suffered to realise that such buses can hardly fail surprise inspections and should never be allowed on the roads because of safety concerns," he said.

An inquiry by the Financial Gazette established that there was confusion over who was the actual authority on safety issues due to the duplication of duties. The Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe (TSCZ) has no clear mandate over the issue and cannot enforce road worthiness of public transport.  Its role has been reduced to that of an awareness lobby group, yet it is the one which is most visible on the roads.

The obligation to enforce fitness compliance has been left to the corruption-ridden Vehicle Inspection Department, a government department responsible for assessing drivers' competency and certifying vehicles for the road. The basic requirements for passenger transport drivers include a valid class 1 licence, a defensive licence, medical report and retest.
Police are mandated to arrest drivers that fail to produce these for prosecution, but many times, they have been blamed for letting offenders off the hook due to corruption.

There is another organisation called the Road Motor Transport responsible for road user permits and time-tables.
Beyond raising awareness, there is little that the TSCZ can do "Whenever an accident happens, police take over everything. They handle the investigations to ascertain the cause. Right now we are waiting for the police report on the (Murewa) accident so we can chart the way forward," said TSCZ managing director, Obio Chinyere.

Asked if they had a facility to check the imported buses to see if they meet acceptable standards, which include tracing their origin, Standards Association of Zimbabwe executive director, Eve Gadzikwa said she has no knowledge of that. "Let me consult with those on the ground to see what they can prepare for you," she said. But nothing had come through by the time of going to print.