In the spat of a number of road accidents that has rocked the country in the past few days, concerns have been raised over road engineering, designs and the quality of roads in Zambia, reports Zambian Eye Correspondent.
The country’s roads have since become death traps with calls being made for the carnage to be declared a national disaster.
Meanwhile, most of these accidents have been attributed to speeding, bad road behaviour, the use of unroadworthy vehicles, and driving under the influence of alcohol. But some analysts believe that there is need to critically investigate road accidents spots and come with the underlying causes.
The Zambian Roads & Highway Safety Group (ZRHSG) says it is not satisfied with the current investigative methods by the Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) and the Zambia Police Traffic Division which only identify ‘speeding’ as the only cause of all accidents in Zambia.
“We are calling on all stakeholders to study these accidents and accidents scenes and provide holistic solutions that will incorporate road safety in road designs and driving conditions to ensure future accidents are prevented and lives saved,” says Group Admin Mthoniswa Banda.
The safety group added that the authorities’ accident reports have no details on how future accidents could be prevented.
ZRSHG believes that these fatal road accidents are signal of the rooted and bigger road safety shortcomings in Zambia.
The road safety pressure group cited road designs and signage, road maintenance and prevailing bad driving conditions as some of the aspects that need close attention.
“In the long run, we have called for improvement of road designs, including creation of overtaking lanes so slow vehicles like trucks can give way to fast cars on those accident prone areas of the highways,” adds Banda
ZRHSG is calling the Government to declare road safety a national disaster in the wake of the highest number of Zambian lives lost on our roads within a short period of time.
Meanwhile, according to a civil engineer from a local university, Dr Phillion Mwalemu, road design should be done with the type of carriage it is expected to support in mind. He says it s because of the very same reason why heavy vehicles are not allowed in those small roads found in residential areas.
The expert adds that a load which would bear both the existing traffic and the future traffic volumes should be reflected in the designs of roads.
According to Access Partnership (ReCAP), a research programme, funded by UK Aid, currently, there are no local guidelines or manuals specific to the design of low volume rural and urban roads in Zambia. This has led to a need to develop new manuals for pavement and geometric design to ensure uniformity of standards in the provision of low volume roads (LVRs) in rural and urban areas of the country.
In the 8 days of March, 2020 alone, over 57 non replaceable Zambians have been lost on the country’s roads in the four accidents recorded on Lusaka-Mumbwa Road, Kitwe-Kalulushi Road, Ndola-Kitwe Dual Carriageway and the Chipata- Lundazi Road.
Poor management and a lack of accountability are major factors in road accidents. Roads are badly maintained, police officers who should be enforcing traffic rules for safety are not holding idiot drivers accountable – you can bribe your way out of any situation.