Invest in road safety research

Lazarus Sauti

In Zimbabwe, just like many of the world’s poorest countries, cancer, HIV and AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis (TB) are among the top causes of death.

However, there is another cause wielding an even greater toll on citizens: road traffic injuries and traffic- related air pollution.

Sadly, this crisis is not getting the attention it deserves and the insufficient attention paid to road safety is being paid in terms of lives lost as well as long-term injuries.

“Cancer and the deadly triad of HIV and Aids, malaria and TB, are visible in national, regional and international debates unlike road traffic injuries and traffic-related air pollution.

“Sadly, these two are ravaging Zimbabweans,” said Allowance Sango of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development.

Sango, who is also the Traffic and Safety Council of Zimbabwe (TSCZ) board member, added that the problem is not only in Zimbabwe, but the world over.

“The problem is not only in Zimbabwe, but the world over; the road traffic injuries as well as traffic-related air pollution crisis remains alarmingly absent from global discussions,” he said.

The World Health Organisation (WHO), in its Global Status Report on Road Safety (2015), concurs.

“1,25 million people are killed each year on the world’s roads, and this figure has plateaued since 2000, but efforts to reduce road traffic deaths are clearly insufficient if the international road safety targets set by the Sustainable Development Goals are to be met,” reads the report.

Another report titled “Transport for Health: The Global Burden of Disease from Motorised Road Transport”, released by the World Bank and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, United States, also noted that road accidents alone account for almost as many deaths as HIV and AIDS. The report said the additional burden of disease caused by traffic pollution and road traffic accidents accounted for over 1,5 million deaths in 2010 — more than the individual cost of HIV and AIDS, malaria or tuberculosis.

In Zimbabwe and other developing nations, citizens are bearing the brunt of this crisis as transport-related deaths are caused by both crashes as well as pollution.

For instance, 10 people died in 181 road traffic accidents recorded during the Easter holidays, according to police national spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba.

A horror crash also claimed 30 lives on March 3 along the Gweru-Harare highway.

More so, statistics released by the police early this year show that Zimbabwe’s roads have become death traps with an average of 2 000 people dying each year on the roads.

According to the statistics, 130 people lost their lives in 345 accidents during the festive season alone. The numbers also revealed that the year 2011 was the country’s bloodiest year as it recorded 2 000 road deaths in which approximately 1 992 people died and 16 944 were injured in traffic-related accidents.

“Every year since 2006, road accident fatalities have increased from a total of 1 037 deaths with the media reports indicating that about five people die on Zimbabwe’s roads daily,” the report pointed out.

Forlornly, notes Tatenda Chinoda, a traffic safety officer for marketing and road safety educator, most accidents that are plunging the country into mourning are a result of driver error, also referred to as human error.

“Statistics prove that 97 percent of all road traffic collisions are a direct result of driver error, also referred to as human error,” said Chinoda, who is also a seasoned defensive driving instructor.

He added that speeding, misjudgement, overtaking and reversing errors, failure to give way, following too close, obstruction on the way, negligent pedestrians and cyclists as well as fatigue are some of the human mistakes which are causing fatalities.

Statistics from the police support Chinoda’s assertions. According to statistics from the police, the most deadly human errors that claimed lives in 2014, for instance, were misjudgement 377 (17 percent), overtaking error 332 (15 percent), failure to give way 266 (12 percent), following too close 244 (11 percent), reversing error 155 (7 percent), obstruction on the way 81 (4 percent).

Others, added the police, were caused by tyre bursts 54 (2 percent), negligent pedestrian or cyclist 37 (2 percent), animals 16 (0,6 percent) as well as fatigue 11 (0,4 percent).

These figures show that the country’s roads have indeed become death traps and the crisis looks set to worsen if the Government as well as other stakeholders such as the police, Vehicle Inspectorate Department (VID), Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe (TSCZ) and the Central Vehicle Registry (CVR), fail to act urgently.

To take traffic-related death seriously and save nationals from this “cancer” that is ravaging the country and her citizenry, all concerned partners need to urgently ramp up investments in road safety research, a fact supported by Sango.

“Road authorities always hold awareness campaigns to reduce traffic-related calamities, but the Government, together with other stakeholders, should invest in road safety research to improve the quality of data on traffic injuries and ensure that deaths and injuries from road crashes are well-reported.

“This is so because lack of research is not the only major problem in Zimbabwe, but under-reporting of deaths and injuries from road crashes,” he said.

Sango added that lack of road safety research as with under-reporting of deaths and injuries from road crashes has a major impact on Government policy in addition to aid interventions.

“With inaccurate data under-playing the crisis in the country, regional and international donor partners may fail to recognise the scale of the crisis,” he said.

On top of research, Sango believes the needs of pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclist should be considered in all approaches to road safety, a fact supported by the Global Status Report on Road Safety, 2015.

“Making the world’s roads safer will not be possible unless the needs of pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists are considered in all approaches to road safety; making walking and cycling safer will also have other positive co-benefits if non-motorised forms of transport become more popular, including more physical exercise, reduced emissions, and the health benefits associated with such changes,” reads the report.

It (the report) also urged policy decision makers to make vehicles and roads safer.

“Safe vehicles play a critical role in averting crashes and reducing the likelihood of serious injury.

“Over the past few decades, a combination of regulatory requirements and consumer demand has led to increasingly safe cars in many high-income countries; however, rapid motorisation in low and middle-income countries — where the risk of a road traffic crash is highest — and the growing manufacture of vehicles in these emerging economies means there is an urgent need for minimum vehicle standards to be implemented by every country,” reads the report.

Senior Assistant Commissioner Charamba, on the other hand, believes road users must always abide by all road rules and regulations all the time.

“Drivers need to exercise caution and avoid speeding to safeguard people’s lives,” she said.

The international attention promised to the issue of road safety by the new Sustainable Development Goal target to halve deaths and injuries from road traffic crashes by 2020 presents a golden opportunity for much needed action, and one that must be seized by Zimbabwe as well as other countries.

Through this, the pace of progress can be accelerated and an actual decline in road traffic deaths realised