BUS ACCIDENTS IN ZIMBABWE: How many more lives must be lost before action is taken against offenders ,..I ask you?

The number of accidents and resultant death toll from bus accidents on Zimbabwe’s roads has reached an alarming rate. there is so much lack of respect for human life.
 
This can no longer be ignored by the people who put the government in power to cater for their welfare yet they are continuously neglected as evidenced by the road death toll.
 
About five years ago, I spoke in detail about this and made most of the suggestions below but people did not take it seriously,..here we are again.  I recognise the seriousness of the road death toll in the first world , where in fact passengers can report injury to police and company owners about any bus  service no matter how seemingly small, for example a fall, a scratch from a seat and so forth. 
In the first world, human life is respected whereas sorry to say Zimbabwe is now at that level where drivers, company owners and even customers themselves look at various accidents as serious or minor, say maybe ten passengers  die and its viewed as not so serious.
In the first world, if a bus comes into contact with another vehicle or anything stationary such as another vehicle, street furniture or a tree and no one is injured and no vehicle  or property is damaged its still serious and investigated and if necessary a prosecutable offence.
 Some of these accidents can be attributed to poor state of roads while others are caused by the use of non road worthy vehicles, unlicenced or inexperienced drivers overloaded buses and most commonly a result of human error.
 
Some human errors include, over speeding, dangerous driving, overworked and tired drivers.
 
This can easily be curtailed by improving the standards of safety and service on offer through more company inspectors at more frequent points to check on the safety and welfare of their customers and driver conduct to that point. If any safety discrepancies or noted or raised, there should be no negotiation on passenger safety.
 
The vehicle should be grounded immediately and passengers transferred at the earliest convenience to another vehicle to complete their journey while police are drawn in where the law has been broken such as drink driving , dangerous or unlicenced driving.
 
I suggest that Average speed cameras should be installed at all toll gates, so that speed is not gaged at the time of being logged by a road camera but instead averaged with respect to distance travelled between two toll point cameras and time taken. That will average the speed at which the driver was travelling and is much safer than fixed point speed cameras as one can slow down when approaching them and speed off after that.
 
All buses like in the first world should have cameras installed for CCTV on board, including front, side and rear facing cameras on each bus rolling 24/7 and only accessible to company safety engineers, and police. Such footage will give undisputable evidence about any accident or incident involving each bus, passengers and other criminal activity which could be in progress in or within the vicinity of the cameras.
 
Yes cameras are intrusive to people’s privacy but they improve road safety because you immediately have more responsible bus drivers, along with other road users who also know that each bus is recording their behaviour on the road.
 
Cameras are also a worthwhile investment for company owners as they greatly improve the level of revenue because theft by passengers and conductors and bribery to cops immediately stops because no one will dare do anything on record.
 
Customer service improves also as all staff recognise that their conduct is on record 24/7.
 
Every bus must be fitted with a tachometer, while distance buses must have relief drivers on board, Each driver should have his own disc which he installs when driving.
 
At toll gates there should be traffic police and VID checking on the buses. It does not take long to check on the tachometer disc and ensure the driver has not exceeded a set amount of maximum driving hours before a meal break on that day or maximum driving hours before a minimum ‘bed’ break of at least eight hours, and also that the driver has not exceeded his maximum weekly driving hours limit before driving.
 
These are critical road safety measures set by parliarment and enforced by companies and police. Breaking such rules are simply sackable or even jailable offences.
 
The customer is number one and the customer’s voice must always be respected. At each toll point and onboard buses, there must be clearly reflected emergency numbers to the police regarding a particular service. Every bus must have besides the registration number, the bus number on the side, back and front for passengers to make a note of in the event of complaints or commendations for service rendered.
 
Many passengers now have mobile phones and any problem issues can be recorded and fowarded to the next toll point for assistance from police who can wait ahead for the service and handle the situation urgently and if necessary alert the company in advance so that they can contact the driver and ask him to pull over immediately and wait for assistance , of course we mean police and a replacement driver.
All the footage is incriminating evidence in court and if passengers use the leverage to their advantage they can bring back some semblance of normalcy onto roads.
 
People’s voices must be heard over this. This can start from total refusal to board problem company buses, stand back let them go empty even if for free, make a statement. Your voice, your money determines whether the company stays in business.
 
The public must engage their local legislators, name and shame offending services and provide footage if available for MPs to use in parliament as they raise awareness about it. MPs should be be able to call for tougher road safety measures to be placed on Passenger Service Vehicles, Bus drivers and bus company owners ‘
 
Penalties should range from fines to Jail terms for offending drivers including  loss of Passenger Service vehicle licences by bus drivers, charging bus company owners with Corporate Liability in the event of accidents and loss of route permits, When such pressure is brought to bear upon the bus company owners from as high up as government woking with the people, for the people by listening to the grassroots people who are the main users of such services, then road service will improve almost overnight.
I could go on and on about road safety measures because I live in the first world and I see how the system is run and can actually see where our own system is lacking in the motherland.
I hope by sharing my view, I will trigger progressive debate by the people through making them more informed about issues directly affecting them on the ground. Let me open the floor to opinions, additions, subtractions, misgivings or whatever. Its your lives, you can make a difference, stand up and be counted…..DISCUSS! I thank you! By Sibusiso Ngwenya
 

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