The Insurers Association of Zambia (IAZ) says its stands ready to work with the government to halt carnages on Zambian roads which Vice-President Dr. Guy Scott revealed is receiving attention at the highest level of leadership in the country.
IAZ president Mr Shipango Muteto said insurance companies in the country are willing to work with the government to come up with a multi-sectoral practical policy response to the unabated cases of road accidents which are costing the country greatly, through the loss of vital human resource and millions of kwacha in property damage annually.
“To this effect, as an Association we will encourage our member companies to do their part in ensuring that the conditions that attach to the insurance of vehicles especially public service passenger carrying vehicles are tightened to compel motorists and vehicle owners to pay attention to the conditions of their vehicles before they are taken on the public roads and duration that such vehicles are operated or driven,” Mr Muteto said.
The Republican Vice-President, when officiating at the 3rd International Association of Prosecutors African –Indian Ocean Regional conference in Livingstone on the 3rd of March 2014, said the practical measures being proposed by IAZ would make the insurance sector contribute to making a dent on the high number of fatalities on our roads. “It is about …time somebody came up with a practical policy measure..” Dr Scott said when referring to the policies that the insurers want to put in place in a bid to assist in halting the increase in road accidents.
Mr Muteto said a number of insurance companies in Zambia already have defined stricter insurance underwriting conditions which if they are all adopted as a market practice will go a long way to compel bus operators to embrace appropriate risk management principles which will ultimately result in the reduction of the current carnage on our roads.
He said some of these practical responses being advocated for by IAZ include among others that only buses which are five (5) years old or less are licensed to operate as public service passenger carrying vehicles, as clearly some of the old busses have become costly to maintain hence compromising the roadworthiness of such buses.
“As such, buses which have spent long hours on the road, the degree of wear and tear is very high, and it is therefore our expectation that such bus which are used for hire and reward are written off by the end of five years,” Mr Muteto said. “We also believe that for long distance driving, all journeys longer than 800 kilometres to be undertaken by two drivers as no one driver should drive for more than 8 hours without rest. This has contributed to the poor judgments on the part of drivers, resulting in some of the road accidents which we have so far witnessed.”
Mr Muteto also said the local insurers agree with most stakeholders’ observation that night driving on major highways be restricted, to be undertaken between 04.00hrs to 21hrs only.
“To support these efforts, we also strongly recommend that all public service buses are subjected to quarterly inspections or servicing after clocking 10,000 kilometres (maximum), whichever comes earlier, this must be conducted by franchise dealers of the buses/commercial vehicles and reports availed directly to the licensing authorities and us as Insurers,” said Mr Muteto. “If adverse features are detected in the reports, these may be incorporated as warranties, at the option of the Insurer. Service records must be kept and produced in the event of loss/claim.”
Mr Muteto said IAZ also demand that each vehicle is checked by the operator’s mechanics before commencement of the journey and if adverse features are noted, such vehicle should not to be allowed on the roads and all operators of buses to maintain a record of such instances.
“We also strongly demand that no flammable liquids/substances, toxic chemicals or other dangerous materials are to be carried on passenger carrying buses and that the fleet owners maintain log sheets indicating drivers hours on duty and the time of commencement of duty to end of duty and kilometres driven,” he said. “All PSV drivers have adequate training for the vehicles which they operate and bus conductors shall not be allowed to drive the buses under any circumstance.”
The Insurers Association believe that all these measures once adopted will assist in the reduction of the number of accidents involving public service vehicles on the roads.
Rail transport must be introduced / improved to reduce number of Heavy trucks on our Roads.
Please regulate public transport and train drivers adequately.
Don’t some of these rules apply already? Breathalyse all long distance drivers at final destination. Ensure PSV is in date. Govern all buses to 100 kms/hr. Minimum for insurance plus other safety regs. Insurance companies should run this service. Mark stopping zones for mini buses and paint them on the highway. Drivers loose license if you stop anywhere else. Parking anywhere within the yellow lines on the highway, huge fine and court. Any broken down vehicle must put warnings upto a minimum 10 times its length on highways. All PSV vehicle subject to yearly increased fitness and on the spot. Any discrepancy will void insurance. However, some of the regs like only newer vehicles will make it expensive to travel and the economy around transport.
Yes railway transport, for instance 1 train leaving at an hour
Look at SA 1 000 trains to be produced locally.
The 1,000 new trains will service South Africa’s ports
South Africa’s ageing freight rail network is to get 1,000 new trains in a 50bn-rand (£2.8bn; $4.7bn) investment.
The trains will be run by Transnet, South Africa’s state-owned freight transport company.
The spot light has always been on buses because most casualties happen to be the passengers on the bus meanwhile most buses just happen to be at a wrong place at the wrong time. Example the recent Kitwe/Ndola, Chibombo and Mazabuka accidents, from the media reports the trucks and not buses were in the wrong. Assuming those spots where on duel carriage way, such accidents could not have happened.
…while other proposed measures make sense, I disagree with the suggestion that only buses aged 5 yrs or less should be the only ones allowed to operate. Zambia does not manufacture buses….most are bought as ‘good’ used buses 5yrs or older. Emphasis should be on maintenance and strict routine professional mechanical inspection.
Measures must be extended to hauling trucks as well
@Scrutinizer i agree with you; often times we find trucks are major culprits in the recent spate of fatal accidents on our roads. its best to zero-in on regulations and activities governing driver licencing of trucks, road-worthlessness and operations of trucks. Most truck drivers do no get enough rest and being fatigued they present a huge risk on our roads. RTSA should tighten the regulations governing operations of trucks with respect to aforementioned activities.
Actually, the Chibombo accident, it wasn’t the truck in the “direct” wrong,….
Strictly speaking, all three vehicles made basic errors… (Speeding at a curve, speeding in wet conditions and the landcruiser that tried overtake the POST Bus)
The survivor of the truck explained what happened. The moment the driver(his Uncle) saw the landcruiser, he panicked and slammed the brakes. This caused the trailer to move and pulled the Horse in the direction of the POST Bus which was coming at full speed. and the unfrotunate happened. In fact, the media reported that the Muzungu driving the Landcruiser was at fault. Don’t forget so easily,….
But i agree,… Trucks have been ignored in this….!!
And more high way traffic cops. NOT just making road blocks at JOHN CHINENA but patrolling the entire road network.
I also disagree about the 5 year rule. What is needed is maintenance service otherwise transport becomes expensive for the poor man !
Ba LT ba mambala whats happening with my posts, Do you turn off your servers ngamwaya mukulala?
The leading cause of these RTAs is BAD DRIVER ATTITUDE!
Taking intoxicating drink or smoke increases the appetite to take risks. Maybe we want to drive like they do in movies.
The third intoxicating thing is now the Cell phone! This is worse than intoxicating drink and smoke! You want to send a text message while driving and you want to drive safely at the same time?
In civilized countries, they don’t just breathalyse. Drug testing is also done. I can assure you there is a lot of Chamba smoking that goes undetected!
The problem in Zambia is the risk of getting punished is very small! The Law and it’s enforcement is very weak. Corruption of the minds is the leading cause of these senseless accidents!
i too dissagree on the 5 yrs age limit for the buses. what is needed is regular maintenance, zero toralence to drink driving, reduced speed limit, speed signs on the roads, no bus driving at night, tractor mowing or people slashing grass of sides of our highways for drivers to see what is happening on the road from a far, etc.
Ba LT, where is my comment?
i too disagree on the 5 yrs age limit for the buses. what is needed is regular maintenance, zero tolerance to drink driving, reduced speed limit, speed signs on the roads, no bus driving at night, tractor mowing or people slashing grass of sides of our highways for drivers to see what is happening on the road from a far, etc.
ZRA also should be blamed for charging high taxes for vehicles manufactured less that 10 years ago! That discourages us from buying relatively new vehicles, we always go for old vehicles and pay scrap value tax, thats a shame.
Bla bla bla. We need highways to separate the driving directions.
What z neded z regular maintenance of roads by the local authority or intrioduction of road toll & not these insurance companies r very expensive. we motor oparators already we r the ones who r highly taxed. EG On fuel,road tax ,zra , abnomal insurance policies etc.
some distances take tow -3days to reach their respective destination, so if we say if only travel during day time how long cn it take 4 one to reach where z going? bothe the govt & motor ops ve a responsibilty to take motor ops obsver traffic at all times avoid drink & drive ,speed limit. patience. govt ensure ur roads r well maintaned at all times. most roads r in a deplorable state no road signs hamps r all over and in most cases not even painted..