DYING LIKE DOGS

People are dying like dogs on Zambian roads.

Road accidents have reached a new height with serious accidents involving heavy-duty trucks occurring weekly.

In all of them, lives have been lost.

This is not something new and countless times before, new regulations have come into force but still, the death toll keeps rising.

Why is this happening and why is Frank Tayali, the Minister of Transport and Logistics, taking no action?

Yes of course, there are many reasons to point at.

For instance, Mr. Tayali might argue that many of the roads are in a deplorable state.

Design defects, even on the new roads, are glaringly obvious and it is strange that these new roads, have actually been passed as fit for the purpose.

Take the much talked-about Lusaka-Ndola highway currently under construction.

It is of the barest minimum width, and it lacks the necessary side apron clearance for road emergencies such as breakdowns.

On many other roads, signage is on tiny little insignificant billboards, fleetingly visible even during the day, worse still at night.

At critical accident zones, there are no visible markers to calm down speeding vehicles and no lighting.

Many of our drivers are road criminals lacking the necessary skills or licenses.

They must not be allowed anywhere near the steering wheel of a heavy-duty truck.

Like Formula 1 grand prix drivers, they cruise at breakneck speeds dangerously overtaking smaller vehicles at will with impunity.

Drivers race the clock in order to get the time in, ending up killing people in their mad rush.

Transport firms are also complicit.

They have no qualms employing rookie drivers, some with less than a years’ driving experience, letting them lose on some of the most dangerous roads on the planet.

But transporters also need constant reminding that the key factor in a successful transport operation is not the trucks – it’s the drivers.

Service conditions must improve, not just remuneration, also rest for recharging in order to reduce the number of fatigue-related fatalities.

Mr. Tayali, must revisit the qualification criteria at truck training schools.

Trainers with less than 10 years’ truck driving experience must not be training because they’re still learning themselves.

Mandatory requirements must be reinforced for transporters to employ fleet management systems, tracking driving data in real time, including speeds, acceleration and braking.

Tough punishment should go to transporters and drivers found to be in breach, especially where deaths occur as a result of their negligence.

Breaches in safety rules or speeding must be heavily penalised.

Transporters and their drivers must know that there will be consequences.

But – and this is the catch, deterrence can only be effective where there is a sure likelihood of being caught and punished, as well as the harshness of the punishment.

Our roads are death traps.

When drivers return home alive, it is cause for a little prayer thanking the Lord they arrived alive.

Surely, it is time for this Russian roulette on our highways to come to a stop.