The Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) has recorded a total number of 325 cases of drink driving during the festive season countrywide.
RTSA Public Relations Manager, Mukela Mangolwa said Copperbelt Province recorded the highest number of drink driving with one hundred and one (101) cases, followed by Southern Province with 69 cases, sixty (60) cases in Central Province, fifty-nine (59) in Lusaka Province, , Sixteen (16) Western Province, fourteen (14) Eastern Province and 6 cases in Muchinga Province.
Mr. Mangolwa said out of the 69 cases reported in Southern Province, the Livingstone Subordinate Court has since charged and fined 10 motorists K2000 each for the offence of drink driving and the other 18 motorists will appear in court on Monday, 4th January 2016. The rest (41) were charged on the spot at check-points.
Meanwhile the Lusaka Fast Track court has also this festive season fined and convicted 14 motorists for drink driving who were found above the legal limit which is 0.38mg/l and 13 will appear in court on Monday.
Section 156 of the Road Traffic Act No. 11 of 2002 of the Laws of Zambia states that any person who, when in charge of a motor vehicle is on a road, but not driving the vehicle, is under the influence of intoxicating liquor or narcotic drugs to such an extent as to be incapable of having proper control of such vehicle, commits an offence and is liable, upon conviction, to a fine not exceeding one thousand five hundred penalty units, and in the case of a second or subsequent conviction, to fine not exceeding not ten thousand penalty units or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years.
In view of this, the Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) is appealing to members of the public to refrain from drink driving as anyone who will be found wanting will be charged according to the Law.
Why is it important to report on the action being taken against offenders ONLY IN SOUTHERN PROVINCE?
You are making even us who support HH have second thoughts.To you everything has to do with tribe?The biggest danger HH has to attain presidency are his tribesmen.You can imagine if these faggots got into power.
On two occasions Sata told the nation that the people around him were ALL useless. He started with the MPs and ended with his cabinet. Take note, nobody else but Sata.
The he passed on. Right?
One of the people he described as useless ran for office. Guess what you supposedly intelligent people did? Voted for one of the people the PF president described as useless. Never mind the scuffle characterizing the whole convention process. You still voted for a person described twice by his boss as useless: as an MP and as a minister!
Now tell me who the doofus is!
The doofus is the one who thinks Sata was intelligent.
And howmany of the RTSA have been drunk??????????????
Zambia the very religious so called christian nation…how ironic!!
This is not related to the topic above, but I would like to point out my disappointments with the standard of driving in Zambia. The drivers are poorly trained because the driving school instructors are as bad as their students. Most of the Zed drivers ( pick out Lusaka ) do not know what a slow and fast lane is. You will see them covering both. They don’t even understand the meaning of the lane marking lines. They equally don’t know how to use a Round About ( which lane for which direction and when to indicate your exit. From my observations, driving whilst drunk in Zed is a normal thing – I guess there are no laws against it. There is also a lot of aimless driving at abnormal slow speed causing unnecessary traffic jams and inconveniencing other road users. I would like to urge…
Uuuhhm there’s something suspicious about the statistics on drink driving. I have a feeling that the officers in Southern province and elsewhere outside Lusaka did their jobs professionally. Lusaka officers were either taking bribes or could not do their jobs professionally due to interference from senior officers both civilian and security/police/defence. Police officers who were on duty during this period would definitely agree with me. There is no way Lusaka could have recorded lower fingers of drink drivers. The situation on the ground is far different from what RTSA reported.