City traffic vehicle in fatal accident

A HARARE City Council traffic enforcement vehicle was last Friday involved in a fatal accident, which killed one person and injured 11 others while chasing after a commuter omnibus.

The accident happened along Lytton Road in Harare while the commuter omnibus was on its way to Mufakose.

Harare city spokesperson Mr Michael Chideme confirmed the accident.

“The vehicle was after a commuter omnibus, which was going to Mufakose,” he said. “It hit a pothole and rolled over. The accident happened along Lytton Road.”

Police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Paul Nyathi said the police would conduct further investigations to establish the full circumstances of the accident.

“Circumstances are that the driver of a Harare Municipality vehicle tried to overtake another vehicle and in the process avoided a head-on collision and side-swiped a Honda Fit on the left side,” he said.

“The ZRP is currently conducting investigations to establish the full circumstances on the accident.”

Meanwhile, Chitungwiza Municipality has slashed traffic fines in a deliberate move to augment revenue collections,

The Road Traffic and Other Offences by-law had a schedule of over 60 offences.

Chitungwiza Acting Town Clerk Mrs Charity Maunga said last week that the downward review had been necessitated by the failure by many motorists to pay their fines.

“The penalties, in terms of the by-law, ranged from $20 to $200, but in our 2018 budget, we reduced the penalties as people felt they were too prohibitive to an extent that traffic offenders were facing difficulties in paying,” said Mrs Maunga.

She said the highest penalty that was pegged at $200 but has since been reduced to $20, with over 43 different parking fines of $100 now cut to $20.

The decision to slash the fines, according to Mrs Maunga, was taken after consultations with residents.