A Mazhandu bus travelling to Lusaka from Kitwe was involved in a road accident around 12 hours between Kabwe and Kapiri.
On the scene sources said five people have died on the spot while the sixth victim died on the way to the hospital.
The accident happened at a place called near the Green Leaf.
Among the deceased are four female passengers and a male aged between 1 and 2 years.
One of the female deceased passengers had her bridal shower on Saturday.
And the Road Transport and Safety Agency says it is saddened by the fatalities in a road traffic accident along the Kabwe Kapiri Mposhi road involving a Mazhandu Family Services Bus.
RTSA’s preliminary accident investigations conducted revealed that the driver of the motor vehicle failed to negotiate a curve, due to excess speed.
According to one of the eye witness, the driver of the bus Kasheka Shadrick Kabange was over speeding and failed to negotiate the curve and lost control causing the bus to slip on the road.
The investigations also revealed that the driver of the bus was fully licensed.
The investigation further showed that the section of the road where the accident occurred is a curvy stretch with a speed limit of 80km/h and the road is clearly marked and that the road is smooth.
The investigations have also revealed that the road was wet as it was raining during the time the road accidents occurred.
“As the RTSA, we are saddened by the loss of lives through an accident and urge all motorist to exercise maximum patience on the roads and avoid over speeding. And following a spate of road traffic accidents by Mazhandu Family Bus Services in the recent past, the Agency will be summoning the operator to show cause why the Road Service License (RSL) should not be suspended,” says RTSA Spokesman Fred Mubanga.
Too bad. These buses easily skid and slide off the road. I witnessed one Mazhandu bus between Chibombo and John Chinena skid from its lane to the opposite. Fortunately the driver was able to gain control.
They drive too fast. I travelled between Lusaka and Harare on one of these buses and its a wonder how the accident numbers are not higher. May God preserve every road traveller in Zambia.
Us passengers also feel amanone if the driver is speeding, instead of enjoying view of beautiful Zambia, we like seeing trees passing like fyap-fyapu-fyapu. And driver nafumya imboyo. Ati this driver is good mwee, with hand!! Wa PSV..
Most of the accidents in Zambia could be avoided if the country had a Public Transportation Authority. RTSA has no clue on how to regulate public transport.
CONDOLENCES TO THOSE WHO LOST THEIR BELOVED ONES.
“…the driver of the bus was fully licensed.” MOST PROBABLY CORRUPTLY OBTAINED. FOLLOW THE BRITISH WAY OF TRAINING DRIVERS. ADDITIONALLY, ENACT A LAW AGAINST HOOTING OR IS IT HONKING. IT SIMPLY CONFUSES PEDESTRIANS. AT LEAST, RESTRICT HOOTING TO THE EARLY HOURS OF THE MORNING. I CAN’T UNDERSTAND WHY THE ZAMBIAN GOVERNMENT DON’T COPY SOME OF THE GOOD THINGS FROM THE BRITISH LAWS/PEOPLE. ONE CAN LIVE IN THE UK FOR 10 YEARS AND NEVER TO HEAR A HONE OF A VEHICLE.
COMING TO THE ISSUE- ANY PUBLIC TRANSPORT’S SPEED MUST CONTROLLED BY THE LAW…
Too sad for lost babies. Sad indeed, God grant them peace.
…from @2. AND THE BEST WAY TO DO THIS IS BY GOVERNMENT PER-DETERMINED JOURNEY TIME TABLES. STRICTLY, BUSES MUST BE LEAVING ON TIME SUCH THAT EVERY GAZETTED STATION IN BETWEEN THE DEPARTURE AND FINAL STATION IS REACHED IN TIME WITHOUT HAVING TO RUSH/SPEED. THE TRAVEL TIMES BETWEEN STATIONS CAN BE DETERMINED CONSIDERING A STANDARD REASONABLE SPEED FOR EVERY PUBLIC TRANSPORT CARRIAGE. THIS SHOULD BE AN ACT OF PARLIAMENT AFTER EXHAUSTIVE DEBATE. MANY THINGS SHOULD BE CONSIDERED DURING DEBATE SUCH AS: EVERY BUS MUST HAVE NOT JUST A CLEAN BUT HYGIENICALLY CLEAN LOO, UNLESS IN EMERGENCY, NO COACH IS ALLOWED TO STOP AT ANY POINT OTHER THAN GAZETTED ONES, IT SHOULD BE INCUMBENT UPON BUS OPERATORS TO CHECK ALCOHOL LEVELS IN THE OPERATOR’S/DRIVER’S BLOOD. IF IT IS A CASE OF, “YOU HAVE TOO…
…what happened to that mandatory requirement of fitting a speed restriction governor on all public service vehicles…??…the problem with the authority is that they tend to wake up and come up with all sort of measures after an accident….like when an accident happens in the night…they will talk of night restriction on buses travelling at night….but after a spell of time the authority go to sleep until another accident…
The accident could have been avoided. There was a time I travelled from Lusaka to Chingola one rainy day, and saw with my own eyes about six trucks and trailers which had slid off the road and overturned at different points along the way (three within central province, and another three in the copperbelt). A genuinely licensed driver and especially one responsible for many lives of passengers ought to exercise maximum care when driving in such poor weather conditions. RATSA needs to re-strategize. May the souls of the departed dear ones rest in peace.
…from @4. IF IT IS A CASE OF, “YOU HAVE TOO LITTLE BLOOD IN YOUR ALCOHOL”, SUCH A DRIVER FOUND WITH A HINT OF ALCOHOL IN THEIR BLOOD MUST NOT BE ALLOWED TO DRIVE A BUS- A DRIVER ON STAND-BY MUST TAKE OVER. Mind you, it’s Law now in France for every vehicle on the road to stock up Breathe-risers. It incumbent upon a driver to check themselves before they set out to drive their vehicle every morning. They are being sold in all retail outlets in the UK. This is also huge government revenue. BEFORE DRIVERS TO BE CAN GO FOR A PRACTICAL DRIVING TEST THEY SHOULD FIRST PASS THEIR THEORY TEST CAN CAN BE TRANSLATED IN ALL MAJOR LOCAL LANGUAGES, TO CHANGE THE TREND OF CARELESS DRIVING MAYBE THERE SHOULD BE A SUBJECT OF GOOD PRACTICE DRIVING IN SCHOOLS.
It is by law that all Buses in UK have a speed emitter locked to 100km/Hr. In addition each driver has a Disk inserted in a tachograph which records the speed among many things. Why are we failing to implement such simple measures which will save millions of lives? I witnessed a bus travelling to Nakonde at the speed of 150km/hr. I am not joking. The guy driving a Jitotwe bus overtook me between Mununga Quarries and Chilonga as if my vehicle was not moving. This is terrible.
I REALLY SHUDDER AT THE WAY ALL ZAMBIANS GOVERNMENTS JUST DON’T WAKE UP TO CERTAIN REALITIES. A TACHOGRAPH, “A digital tachograph is a device fitted to a vehicle that digitally records its speed and distance, together with the driver’s activity…”, OR A BLACK-BOX IN LOOSE LANGUAGE SHOULD HAVE BEEN INTRODUCED ON PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION A LONG TIME AGO IN ZAMBIA DUE TO RAMPANT ROAD TRAFFIC CRASHES ESPECIALLY PASSENGER COACHES. THIS TECHNOLOGY IS THERE AND NOT EVEN EXPENSIVE. ALL THE GOVT DOES IS INSTRUCT ALL BUS OPERATORS TO FIX THE GADGET ON ALL COACHES THROUGH AN ACT OF PARLIAMENT. ANYWAY, IT’S GOOD THAT WE WILL ‘VE G12s IN PARLIAMENT.
May the souls of the departed Rest In Peace.
Very sad and unfortunate. Mazhandu Family Bus Services has been one passanger service operator who I think has been employing good bus crews. The commpany has equally been paying attention to the condition of buses on their routes through regularly replacing aging and buses in bad condition. My condolences to families that were caught up in the RTA and to management of MFBS. It is unfortunate that while the bus operator will ensure qualified and experienced drivers are employed there will be one or two bad seeds.
@10. I UNDERSTAND YOUR SENTIMENTS FOR MAZHANDU. BUT, I AM PRETTY SURE THAT THERE ARE ONE OR TWO THINGS THE MANAGEMENT OVERLOOKS. BY AND LARGE THIS ISSUE IS MORE ON CORRUPTION IN GOVT DEPARTMENTS. AND JUST THE LAW MAKERS WHO WERE JUST TOO UN EDUCATED TO MAKE ANY MEANINGFUL LAWS AND STILL UPDATE THEM. WHERE THERE ARE LAWS AND NO CORRUPTION (AT LEAST MINIMUM) THINGS DONE WITH CAUTION. IF ONE LIVES IN THE UK, THEY WOULD AGREE WITH ME THAT IT IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND A DRUNK DRIVER, WHILE IT IS COMMON TO FIND NOT ONLY A DRUNK DRIVER BUT ALSO A TRAFFIC POLICE OFFICER MANNING A ROAD BLOCK. THERE MUST BE A REPORTING WAY FOR SUCH.
…from @7. PASSENGERS OF PUBLIC TRANSPORT CARRIAGES MUST BE EMPOWERED TO REPORT ANY OVER DRIVING BUS DRIVER BY TEXTING TO A CERTAIN NUMBER OF THE ROAD TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT. IF IT’S A LONG DISTANCE JOURNEY, DRIVERS MUST SWAP A CERTAIN POINT OR POINTS TO AVOID EXHAUSTING THE LONE DRIVER. A DISTANCE FROM COPPERBELT TO LUSAKA OBVIOUSLY MUST A SWAP DRIVER AT KAPIRI MPOSHI OR KABWE. THERE ARE MANY MORE IMPORTANT THINGS THAT CAN ADD TO THE QUALITY OF ROAD SAFETY AND TRAVEL ON OUR ZAMBIAN ROADS. CURRENTLY, A LOT LEAVES TO BE DESIRED. ZAMBIA IF NOT THE WORST IS ONE OF THE COUNTRIES WITH HIGHEST ROAD TRAFFIC CRASHES. AND THIS DUE TO LAWLESSNESS AND CORRUPTION IN GRZ INSTITUTIONS.
RTSA implement the following measure and we are going to see reduction in the number of these accidents:
When the bus leave the city outskirt, for example at Kabangwe record that time and then counter check the time that bus will arrive at another check point like Kabwe. If the bus arrive in Kabwe less than the determined time reprimand him. This system has worked well in Tanzania.
what you are saying is what the ZRL have in place but drivers would overspead and only slow down when reaching to avoid charge sheet LOL
SO, NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES HAVE EVEN IMPLEMENTED SUCH BEAUTIFUL MEASURES AND ZAMBIA IS STILL JUST NON-STARTER? SLEEPING IN ZAMBIA IS JUST TOO MUCH.
In Zambia as soon as such measures are adopted the sooner they become obsolete for commitment is non existent its substituted with laziness! Anything good for our own benefit becomes a bother when it comes to implementation!
In addition to most of the measures people are suggesting above, I hope that those in accidents and relatives of the deceased are compensated heavily each time (through whoever is at fault) This will compel bus companies, for example, to employ very competent qualified drivers and ensure there are rigorous maintenance schedules on their vehicles (to avoid heavy compensation penalties) For a country like Zambia, the frequency of such mishaps is pretty high.
Sad happenings indeed.but futi ba kazi ba konda kuyenda yenda a lot
Whats a Mazhandu bus?
Iwe Chika.la you don’t know Mazhandu are you a zambian
Who tells this Bambola fool that every one reading this is a Zambian? How parochial can One get?
Iwe cheekala Bambola wabe tole just provide an answer. If you don’t have one focus on other things. Who tells you that everyone reading this is a Zambian? Besides Zambia has a diaspora meaning not every Zambian stays in Zambia you narrow minded nitwit
RTSA is saddened! Does that solve the issue of accidents? RTSA should take some responsibility for road accidents. They are toothless except when taking bribes. Our roads are designed for accidents. Let us take the junction of Kwacha Road into the Great East Road. No responsible road regulating body would allow such junctions. And we have so many of them dotted around the city. When are we going to wake up and stop this cavalier attitude?
Mazhandu aint the only speeding company Likili is aswell the last time I boarded had insomia for 2days this guys do speed
What a dark day and loss for Zambia. May the souls of our dear ones rest in peace in His All Mighty God’s comforting hands. Amen.
Do these companies have public liability to cover passengers in this instance? The Bus owners might have comprehensive cover for the bus and depending on circumstance, they may have a replacement. But what compensation is there for passengers?
Speed limiter is no solution they where only fitted to buses and trucks with zambian registration only . Public speed cameras will control all vehicles on the road without segregation
To add on to the good suggestions above, busses must have Roll over Protection – it should be gazetted. Some of these bus body builders, they build cheap bodies for what they call “Africa” without a roll over protection as it is not a law in most African countries, and a different body for South Africa and Europe.
Mazhandu Bus Services is relatively a good service provider but in this business, one life is too many. They should have trip monitoring system that monitors bus speed, operator behavior and inside the bus, a camera that does video recording.
The roads in Zambia were designed for a population of 4.5 million, and now the population is over 13 million. The main road from Lusaka to Ndola should either be a dual carriage way or should a lot of slip lanes for slow moving…
Accidents do happen but when the cause is over speeding, Mazhandu needs to compensate the families of the lost souls. This will be the only way Mazhandu will educate their drivers to be extra cautious. I have been on a Mazhandu bus before. That ride from Lusaka to Kabwe was not pleasant. The driver was over speeding like he was immortal. I am guessing Mazhandu puts pressure on his drivers about departure and arrival times putting people’s lives at risk. It is so sad that people lost their lives because of someone’s irresponsibility. Why would anyone be over speeding on a wet road?
Some of this accidents you can avoid them in a good way but the main problem is on the drivers of these buses they like taking beer when they at the station before leaving.The government should ensure that it put some stiff measures at the station to breathalyze drivers before they start off other wise the number of accidents will keep on increasing.Drivers found with any percent of alcohol should be jailed.In mining companies if you are found with any percent of alcohol you are fired it has reminded every employee not to report for work under the influence of alcohol.If drivers maintain this habit regularly people`s lives will be protected.
Great point Emmanuel Kamwimba. They should do thorough investigation & Mazhandu needs to compensate families of the deceased. Maybe then, his drivers were be trained well.
Zambian roads are death traps.
too sad indeed,may the almighty God comfort all the family members and the nation.
Zambians, please learn to write sense because 3/4 of the people read what you write.
Accidents are accidents and they happen any time when you least expect. The lasting solution in this case is to turn this road into dua carried way and mark it correctly with speed limits. Sad for the loss of lives. God bless Zambia
Mazhandu must retrain once again its drivers