Northwestern Province Acting Permanent Secretary Fabian Mumba has called for the reinforced of road safety lessons in basic schools’ curriculum to equip children with knowledge of road safety at a tender age.
Mr. Mumba says it was government’s desire to see to it that road safety is reinforced in basic schools so that all pupils are introduced to road safety issues at a tender age.
He said this in a speech read for him by the Provincial Assistant Secretary Joshua Kamanya at a one week school road safety patrons training workshop held at Changa changa hotel in Solwezi today.
Mr. Mumba said government is concerned with the impact of vehicles exerting on ordinary citizens resulting from high levels of mining activities in the province which has enhanced increased disposable
incomes to an extent were people are buying more vehicles.
[pullquote]Mr. Mumba said government is concerned with the impact of vehicles exerting on ordinary citizens resulting from high levels of mining activities in the province which has enhanced increased disposableincomes to an extent were people are buying more vehicles.[/pullquote]
He expressed happiness that Kansanshi Mine Plc through its corporate social responsibility has not neglected the local people but instead embraced the safeguarding of human lives by sponsoring road safety related activities.
Mr. Mumba has since urged the participants to utilize the knowledge they will acquire to supplement the efforts of the Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) and Zambia Police to sensitize members of the general public on the correct usage of the road.
Speaking at the same function Kansanshi Mine Plc Public Relations Manager Godfrey Msiska said the Mining Company will spend K30 million on the work to train 37 teachers from basic schools around Solwezi district in road safety issues.
Mr. Msiska said the ultimate goal of this training is to establish the best conduit of passing on road safety knowledge and skills to children.
And RTSA Principal Education Officer Scholastica Ibaluwa said statistics indicate that 85 percent of schools going children face daunting challenges to and from school on foot and unaccompanied.
Mrs Ibaluwa noted that children constitute a greater percentage of vulnerable road users involved in injuries and death resulting from road traffic accidents and commended the Mining Company for partnering with her institution in fighting road carnage.
ZANIS
so many p. holes and no proper road signs
Expand your mind and expand your knowledge. There are still jobs out there. Go after a degree in the field of your choice and on demand. Find your field at “High Speed University” websites to know which are on demand and suitable for you.
I thought expanding the road network with regular maintenace, traffic lights (that worked) and strict adherence to Learner driving lessons in accordance with the Road Traffic regulatory board would be a better approach to road safety than introducing them in tertiary education as stated
Just to add to what you have pointed out, Smoothcriminal #3; we need to redesign our road system to include pedestrian pathways, traffic lights at pedestrian crossing junctions, etc. I always wonder what these fools do when they take tours of other cities. Most of these implementations are worth the cost they would attract, and in addition, will create much needed jobs for those that must construct and maintain such infrastructure.
How are you going to build roads when your government is so wasteful due to greediness? A named Lawyer, Messrs Redlips Kunda just managed to blow 68bln ZMK on a mere document that a few good men had already written. There are too many beneficiaries from the chaotic Zambia; changing the way we do things will be costly for the foreseeable future. And I mean a veyr high cost not only in terms of money, but also lives. Check the statistics for fatalities on Zambian roads, am sure Kitwe Chingola tops the list. We can only build roads if RB died in one of the accidents, priorities might change; for now, you and I are seen as mere chickens, why build good roads? The educated have let this country down. Change bane!!
What we need are good roads in Zambia, what is the government doing about this? What will education on road safety only do with all the bad roads around the country? The bad state of roads also contribute to many accidents leading to loss of lives unnecessarily. It is very frastruating mwe!
ordinary citizens resulting from high levels of mining activities in the province which has enhanced increased disposable
incomes to an extent were people are buying more vehicles.I don’t think this is true because alot of people have just borrowed money from the banks,roads have huge potholes,no proper road signs,poor driving lessons,same old road network which where planned for very few old cars which need to to be EXPANDED
we need good roads, good road signs. no overloading in buses, cars and no one to travel in a van with no sit belts. Stiffer fines to be imposed for disobeying road safety rules especially for overspeeding.
The above Lusaka Post office is in a great mess than the picture we’re seeing. It looks like it was last painted in KK days.
All things being equal, road safety awareness should be taught from primary school level as happens in other countries – I know, some of our kids go to school in other countries. The argument about poor roads, where people get money to buy these cars, etc does not mean that road safety awareness is not necessary.
Okay this is typical Zambian logic, and that’s where I have problems with the way we think. So school pupils are to be taught road safety BECAUSE many people can now afford cars????? What sort of thinking is that? How many lives have been lost to bad roads, defective vehicles, and overzealous thoughtless drivers? All those deaths never registered a thing in our government system – only when many people start affording cars that’s when it really all matters!!! TYPICAL – that’s all I can say. It shows in everything we do: e.g. the police are there because the apamwamba are getting richer, not because criminals are busy killing and raping innocent citizens every day and night. This is deformed logic…only in our beloved country!
>:)If you drive through Kwacha road, you will see the Kansenshi Secondary School pupils in Ndola crossing at the Zebra crossing and walking very slowly as if they are indoors! However, the sensitising of people on road usage must be for all road users and should be carried out wherever possible, even at workplaces, bars, tarvens and so on. Traffic Police have nothing much to do as they are no longer getting bribes from traffic offenders on the roads, so they must have a deliberate programme of sensitising road users on how to use the road like it used to be in the ’70s when i was in primary shool at Kanini Primary!!!
For once there is something sensible from Unip/MMD GRZ official. What is happening in Zambia is tragic. You find bicycles moving at night without lights and travelling on the wrong side of the road. Worse still is that people are using their feet as brakes on these bicycles. As for the pedestrians, they respect rain more than a moving car on the roads. You will find that instead of walking on the side of the road, they will instead line accross it. Please lets go back to the olden days where road safety was a serious matter in schools- Remember Look Left, Right, Left Again then Cross the Road.
>:)Deja Vu, you are very right, the pedestrians in Zambia behave just like Goats that are scared of the rain and not cars! When you sound your horn for them to give you way they scream at you saying ”umusebo ubukulu”, forgetting it is keep left!
When i travel to the developed countries, i get surprised to see people walking hurriedly at the Zebra crossings and even the drivers are usually acknowleding this from the pedestrians.
So more can now afford cars, if you listen to the POST you would think the opposite is the case. So what are they on in their editorial today?
#15 No Mwale No Elections _ That is not the true picture. What is happening is that the banks have become very “generous” in giving out loans. With K20m one can get a car from Japan at $450FOB.My worry is if the copper boom falls again, most of the loanees will lose their pensions to the banks once they are retrenched.This has happened before The majority of Zambians 80% are just as poor as they were 10years ago.If as an example Kitwe has some 12,000 miners, then it means more than half of them will have access to a loan and thus can buy a Japanese vehicle. This in short will mean more than 6000 cars on the Kitwe roads. But this will no add value to those at St Antony and other compounds
DUI should be the first to be enforced in road safety, atleast 45% Zambian drivers drive under substance influence especially Minibus drivers and nothing has been done to overcome this problem.