Road accident causes need scrutiny - expert

By CHITE MTONGA MONTHLY scrutiny on the cause of road traffic accidents is key to maintaining the downward trend of road traffic related fatalities in the country, Zambia Road Safety Trust (ZRST) Senior Communication advisor Mailos Mwale has said.

Mr Mwale told the Daily Nation in an interview that the monthly scrutiny on road traffic accidents was important in putting up measures that would reduce the number of deaths on the roads.

He observed that the 10% reduction in 2017 from 2016 in road traffic deaths was too minimal if the country was to attain the United Nations decade of action goals, which aim at halving global road traffic deaths by 2020.

Mr Mwale said statutory bodies tasked to handle road safety concerns should ensure that they have a monthly assessment of road traffic accidents so that relevant measures are put in place.

He said measuring progression of interventions and road practices was important in enforcing road safety regulations.

Mr Mwale said 2017 statistics on road traffic accidents were impressive adding that road users should be commended as road traffic accidents had dropped.

He said the reduction of road traffic related deaths could be attributed to massive campaigns that organisations that are involved in road safety around the country undertook.

“The reduction in the number of deaths on our roads could be attributed to the number of players that have come up to fight road safety concerns in the country, even though some of our organisations are not recognized in terms of the role we play in road safety, we still feel we have played our role adequately, and we intend to continue doing so in 2018 and beyond,” Mr Mwale said.