Educate drivers to stop accidents, says TSCZ

THE enforcement of traffic laws without educating motorists is tantamount to treating only the symptoms of road carnage, a Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe official has said.

In an interview, TSCZ spokesperson Mr Tatenda Chinoda called for a multi- sectoral approach to the festive season road accident menace.

He said Government and its partners should come up with a strategy to organise workshops for public and private transport operators.

“Arresting errant drivers and making them pay mandatory fines is not a panacea to the rising problem of road carnage,” said Mr Chinoda.

“It’s like State actors are treating symptoms and leaving the real problem at stake.

“The drivers who would have violated traffic rules deserve to be arrested, but education must come first. Drivers are only trained to get a licence for driving safely, but there are lot of things which drivers have to be taught to avert the increase in road traffic accidents.”

Mr Chinoda said euphoria or excitement by drivers during the festive season should be one of the key subjects in their training.

“We used to say that a motorist must not drive their vehicles under the influence of alcohol,” he said.

“But take note that the element of over-excitement is just as good as intoxication. Hence, intoxication in this context does not entail consumption of drugs or alcohol.

“When one is under the influence of euphoria or over-excitement, he or she will not be driving alert, but away from the situation.”

Mr Chinoda said sticking to enforcement without focusing on the issue of education on vital information pertinent to the reduction of cases of road accidents was wasting time.

“In other words, by merely enforcing the traffic laws, we are unfortunately placing the bandage where there is no wound at all,” he said.

“It must be education plus enforcement for us to come up with a workable solution.’’