Friday, March 29, 2024

Government to construct accident museum to help inculcate responsibility in drivers

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11 members of the same family died n a road  when a Toyota Hiace minibus in which they were travelling collided with a truck on the Ndola-Kapiri Mposhi road, in Kafulafuta.
11 members of the same family died n a road when a Toyota Hiace minibus in which they were
travelling collided with a truck on the Ndola-Kapiri Mposhi road, in Kafulafuta.

GOVERNMENT will construct an accident museum for educational purposes with the hope of inculcating responsibility in drivers and passengers.

Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) chief executive officer Zindaba Soko said in an interview that the organisation and Government are looking for a scrap yard where vehicles involved in accidents from way back could be displayed.

Mr Soko said the museum will be constructed systematically to be used for educating the public and motorists on the negative impact that accidents have on society.
“We are hoping this could be a way of inculcating responsibility among drivers and passengers. The accidents recorded in the first quarter of 2015 that resulted in death and fatal injuries are many and all possible ways of avoiding them further should be done now,” he said.

Mr Soko said the accident museum will also display causes of specific accidents and how these could have been prevented.

And Mr Soko has implored the private sector to have a basic transport safety policy in their places of work for employees.

He said his organisation is working on a policy to be formulated to ensure that it collaborates in ensuring that work places have basic transport safety.

Mr Soko said organisations lose a lot once an employee is involved in an accident both in production and various operations.

And the three towing trucks to help move broken-down motor vehicles off roads have arrived in the country.

Mr Soko said RTSA received the trucks on Monday and training for the users has already taken place.

He said the three trucks will be dispatched to Eastern, Copperbelt and Northern provinces.

Mr Soko said the tow truck for the Copperbelt will also service North-Western Province while the tow truck for Northern Province will be stationed in Mpika to service the Kapiri Mposhi-Nakonde route.

The agency now has five tow trucks.

17 COMMENTS

  1. Will it mandatory for every driver in whole Zambia to visit that museum? Building a museum for the purpose of educating drivers is a waste of money. Instead:
    1. Mandatory refresher driver courses
    2. Assess and monitor private drivers schools. There are too many incompetent private schools.
    3. Clear the corruption of out the license issuance process. Many obtain licenses without stepping into a driver’s school.

    • Stop this museum madness and put your priorities straight.
      Visiting an accident museum will not help in educating drivers and passengers as accident scenes already provide the gruesome pictures of RTAs and its consequences.

      Invest more in training and retraining. Construction of better roads without potholes, well marked lanes and impose severe sanctions on those who flout the law

      With the high rate of accidents and break down on Zambian roads, How can on tow truck service the entire province?

      Invest in emergency response as well

      Please forget this museum madness, the country doesn’t need it

    • RTSA are you serious?Kwena pa Zed you smoke weed.Are you telling me that is how to solve accidents.?
      Just how many accidents in the past involved buses or small cars with trucks?Recently one of your own died in a RTA and just a week ago 3 Germany doctors and a journalist died.In all trucks were involved.Why are you allowing defective trucks on the road?
      YOU ARE LUCKY THAT PF IS TOLERATING YOUR INCOMPETENCE.

  2. They just want steal our money in the name of constructing a museum. How many Zambians visit museums anyway. Zindaba go to school.

  3. What a bad idea and waste of resources. This is glorifying death. You are better off investing the money in driving schools, better road design and vigorus vehicle checks. Accidents will always happen but measures can be taken to reduce them and a museum is certainly not the way forward.

  4. How can an organisation like RTSA only have 3 towing trucks with one to be shared between Copperbelt and NWP? Stop buying poshy cars and buy more tow trucks. Private companies should also have tow trucks. For this accident museum, it is a waste of money. Will you have museums in every town? We don’t have accident museums here, but we are educated about accidents. Make it mandatory for car training schools to teach about the dangers of accidents. Put some accident pictures in the instructor and drivers learning manual. All driving schools should show DVDs of accident scenes students to watch before they are given their lincences. All police stations should have a room where people who commit worse accidents should be required to watch accident DVDs.

  5. From accident museum to tourism my suggestion is that since Sata changed airport names, I think we need to change name for Vic falls Devil’s pool to Angel’s pool. David Livingston said that Angels (not Devils) might have been rejoicing when they saw Mosi-O-Tunya. Can Lungu or the minister of Tourism change the name?

  6. Great news. Well done. What next?

    Museum of corrupt practices?

    Museum of mobile ATM disguised as check points?

    Why not museum of illegalities and broken promises?

  7. What a an idea and waste of resources I don’t see a connection between a museum for wreckage of motor vehicles involved in RTA and reducing the RTA itself . If such an idea is coming from a person holding a very senior position in our parastatal then as a country we shall not develop. To think that if you are taken to a museum as a driver your emotions are are aroused then ultimately that reduces your chances of having an accident on the road is the most shallow idea I have ever heard. RTAs in Zambia is a complex issue that need a lot of research like the size of our roads how they are constructed road signs state of our motor vehicles on the road including regulation on the importation of motor vehicle parts. Right now Zambia is a damping ground for all fake motor vehicle parts…

  8. Solo talks like he has never been to school. Let them also construct a museum for prostitutes,corrupt mps,useless ministers and presidents.

  9. This is what the outcome of a brainstorming session when you give CEO jobs to empty tins…this is not even laughable…this man needs a slap across the face!!

  10. what a stupid idea this is almost as bad as the using the name disaster stadium ……really how old are these people ! use the money for more tow trucks or painting of road lines and signs

  11. Now I understand why Zambia with only about 14million people is a country with so many road accidents. The officers mandated to do the job are big but empty tins. First, three trucks for over 6million cars and vast provinces! Then an accident museum set up somewhere in the corner of the country to help a learners driver in the other part of the country! Can Soko and his team please get serious. Can the government declare this as a national disaster so that resources, discussions can be effected. Accidents are caused by two things. Poor roads, i.e luck of signs, narrow roads, potholes. secondly, poorly trained drivers, ie cannot read, do not care about the importance of roadworthy vehicles, have fake licences (and can only pay small amount even if they killed someone – no criminal charges.

  12. COME ON CHAPS! THE REASON FOR ACCIDENTS ISN’T ON DRIVERS AND BUS PASSENGERS. THE REASONS ARE RTSA, TRAFFIC POLICE, CIVIL SERVANTS CORRUPTION AND POOR ROADS IN ZAMBIA. EVEN WHERE THERE ARE ROADS THERE ARE NO ROAD MARKINGS, ROAD SIGNS AND OTHER CONTROLS. ON THE ROAD A POLICE OFFICER TAKES BRIBES TO PASS A VEHICLE AND THE GRZ KNOWS THIS. RTSA GIVE DRIVERS’ LICENSES CORRUPTLY- YOU DON’T TO GO WITH MINIMUM REQUIRED SKILLS IN ORDER TO PASS YOUR TEST. ALL YOU NEED TO GO WITH IS CASH. MOST OF THE MOTORIST IN ZAMBIA CAN NEVER BE PASSED ANYWHERE ON EARTH APART FROM NIGERIA IN A SIMILAR MANNER. GRZ MUST CLEAN IT’S HOUSE BEFORE STICKING THE BLAME ON BUS PASSENGERS. RID OFF CORRUPTION IN POLICE, DRIVERS LICENSE OFFICES, AND BETTER MARKED AND SIGNED DUAL CARRIAGE WAYS FOR ALL LONG DISTANCE ROADS.

    • @12 grammar correction and should read:

      …YOU DON’T NEED TO GO WITH MINIMUM REQUIRED…

      and not:

      …YOU DON’T TO GO WITH MINIMUM…

  13. It is not a bad idea if they used it on something else. I think they stole this idea elsewhere and tried to make it their own but failed. In tourism when an attack such as terrorism happens, to turn that into a positive they create what is known as memorial sites. Example is 911 in the USA or The Canadian War Museum to remember the dead or those affected. This is part of tourism as the site becomes the attraction visited by tourists/nationals. I’m not sure what the government of Zambia’s angle is with the Accident Site but what an awful name which will deter and scare people away. To me this is a borrowed idea only the people doing it have no clue as to what they are trying to achieve or create and did not properly think this through. We need educated people to be hired in positions.

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