Thursday, March 28, 2024

Government mourns death of 8 people in Kalomo accident

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Eight people died in a road accident yesterday afternoon in Kalomo district when a Noah bus collided with a Land rover Discovery.The deceased include seven members of one Zambian family and a Chinese national.

Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services Chishimba Kambwili who confirmed the death of the eight people said government is unhappy with the loss of so many lives in a collision . Government has sent messages of condolences to the bereaved families and wished them God’s grace during their time of grief.

“On behalf of His Excellency Mr. Edgar Chagwa Lungu, President of the Republic of Zambia and the entire government, I wish to state that the loss of so many lives in a collision in Kalomo is deeply upsetting,” Hon. Kambwili said.

“The government wishes to announce that it has directed the Road Development Agency (RDA) to take steps to address the causes of increased incidents of road accidents in most of the newly built roads.

All necessary steps must be undertaken to reduce these tragedies.”

kalomo accident

23 COMMENTS

    • I was in zed last week after 8 years and i saw a bus called Noah. They are many of these min buses in zed but safety of these tuma buses needs to be audited because noah has caused a lot of accidents. These tuma buses should be bunned.

  1. Very sad indeed, my sincere condolences. But does the journalist know what a Land Rover DISCOVERY looks like?

    • Looks like a Landrover Defender to me.

      It’s sad. Government knows what to do. Carry out mass Driver education and conduct speed awareness training sessions. Tighten Driver’s training, impose high traffic fines. Clear road surroundings so that it is clear to see. Mount speed cameras that feed data into a Central system.

  2. Very sad. Something should be done. The Country cannot go on like this. Its bad enough as it is with the poor Health Support Services. Its like a serial killer is out on the loose shooting indiscriminately. I am not sure a museum on Road Safety without an effective Road Safety System is a solution.

  3. RDA are stuck in their old ways and for someone to go public that we should have an road accident museum just sums up the caliber of people we are dealing with. Government seriously need to re-think the engineering aspects of our road designs. The biggest killers have been head on collisions involving public transport buses and load carrying trucks. You don’t need RDA to tell you this, get engineers or ask experts with experience in motorway designs to evaluate the quality of your so called new roads and highways . We are sick and tired of hearing the same old stories. Death on the roads in Zambia fast becoming the biggest killer. We need to sort this out as it’s depriving the nation of potential human resources.

  4. This article is seriously incomplete & lacks journalistic merit. I expected the author to do a little more investigative journalism before publishing it rather than just quoting a statement from Kambwili. A lot of questions remain unanswered; what exactly happened, what time, who was driving what, how many people were in each vehicle, who could ve been in the wrong??? What measure steps should b done to prevent recurrence? Am sorry to say this report is ‘hollow’ & leaves more unanswered questions…

  5. Why is it that every accident is Zambia results in death? If that is a new built area, why was the speed limit not reduced to 60 or 70 kmh. Why have PF acted so many money on bi-elections which could have been used on providing overtaking lanes on our highways. Why don’t Zambians learn that over speeding is not good?

  6. Zambians please lets be real. Please understand that 80% of today’s Zambian drivers are are young, naive, ignorant of the road signs/rules and equally a danger not only to other road users but, to even the vehicles they drive and to themselves. Licences are easily obtainable in Zambia today due to stinking corruption in Govt dept and total negligence to traffic Laws.

    Only the other day it was reported, one Zambian young driver called seller where he bought an Automatic driven Car from saying; ” This Car is a scrap! It drives well during the day when I put the gear stick in ‘D’ (day) position but wont drive in ‘N’ (night) position so, I want my money back! So there we go. The entire population of Drivers in Zed today only know ‘forward and reverse’, the rest is for you to…

  7. The road is not busy and looks okay. Most of these accidents are simply due to poor driving skills, drink driving and too many fake drivers licences. In Zambia people start arranging for a drivers licence after ordering a dot com vehicle from Japan and have no time to learn and master their driving because they are in a hurry to drive and show off. Driving on a long stretch with family needs experience and is not for learner drivers.

  8. may the GOD of Israel remember Zambia its too much of accidents. We need YOU JEHOVA GOD more than never before we can no longer trust on man made things unless You are with us we labour in vain

  9. Over speeding, narrow roads, no road signs or markings, over taking at or near corners and potholes are the main contributing factors to these accidents. Human error as to compared vehicle or mechanical problems is the most cause for these accidents.May their Souls rest in Peace

  10. Sorry, but RATSA’s solution and wisdom is to put up a museum! Laughable indeed.

    If this accident was due to poor road signage, incompetent driver, or car’s unworthy status, I urge family to sue RASTA. The mandate of RATSA is to ensure saftey of roads by keeping an eye on the above. Unfortunately RATSA is simply incompetent, inept and corrupt. Without an overhaul of the agency the RATSA genocide will continue for a long time to come.

  11. For me it is not surprising to have so many accidents because the number of vehicles has increased a lot since 2000 but we have not improved the roads neither have we constructed new ones.

  12. HAS THE ROAD ON WHICH THE ACCIDENT HAPPENED ROAD MARKINGS AND OTHER TRAFFIC CONTROL SIGNS. IF THE ROAD HAS A DIVIDING LINE THAT SEPARATES THE TWO OPPOSITE LANES THE POSSIBILITY OF A HEAD-ON COLLISION IS VERY SLIM. IT IS MOST LIKELY THAT THIS ROAD HAS NO ROAD MARKINGS AND OTHER ROAD SIGNS. IT’S VERY COMMON IN ZAMBIA TO WASTE PAINT ON PAINTING ROAD SHOULDERS BLACK AND WHITE WHILE MAJORITY OF THE ROADS REMAIN UNMARKED. SHOCKINGLY, POOR DECISIONS ARE MADE LIKE THAT BY AUTHORITIES IN ZAMBIA AND THEY GET SIGNED OFF. IT’S A SHAME.

  13. One of the reasons why these accidents happen is because 90% of these .com vehicles have an automatic transmission system.The buyers buy these vehicles because they are cheaper and easy to drive. All one needs is money to buy both the vehicle and the licence and begin moving the vehicle on the road without learning how to drive. Moving a vehicle is not the same thing as driving a vehicle and that’s where the difference lies. Personally as a driver, I have stopped trusting that the other person in another car is a driver and as a result l have managed to avoid avoidable accidents. If the RATA can not come up with a solution, make drastic measures such as increasing tax on such vehicles or ban the importation of such vehicles all together. Stupid proposal isn’t it?

  14. Being a fellow of the Insurance Institute of Zambia, my humble observation is that insurance industry has much more stake in road safety than any bureaucratic government agency.It is insurance industry that pays for damage to vehicles and injuries to passengers and pedestrians.It shall be made mandatory that every day there shall be continuous road surveillance and insurance executives shall be involved in the same.They shall be appointed reserve inspectors and shall have the power to charge and consficate vehicles that are not road worthy, drunk drivers, overspeeding and overcrowded.At least 50% of RTSA staff shall comprise of insurance professionals.

    • Where is the guarantee that insurance professionals would not be corrupt? Corruption is the biggest problem in modern Zambia. Bring American, Chinese, British, Dutch, Germans to manage all sensitive departments and position.

  15. Most of the civil servants in rural areas have bought vehicles but have no drivers licences. In fact they do not know how to drive but are on the roads. I am sure that Noah driver was one of them and unfortunately he carried the whole family for a visit

  16. The main problem is that there are a lot of unqualified and inexperienced drivers driving on Zambian roads who even to carry passengers on long distance! Noah mini bus is a family car that is not meant for carrying lifts! Tolerance is lacking to most of the drivers coupled with wrong judgement!

  17. Let them not only look at the roads.. Those vehicle on the roads lacks yearly inspection and the drivers themselves may not have enough qualification, learnt from friends, learnt to drive personal vehicles but opted to driving a bus or truck. :(#)

  18. Major causes of accidents is inexperienced drivers who just hello buy driving licences.We need tough laws,fines and proper driving schools to reduce such accidents. How many lives are we going to lose Mwebantu??

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