22 people died while 48 passengers sustained injuries in an accident involving a Power Tools, Scania bus registration number ACR 6315 which was coming from Nakonde heading to Kitwe with 70 passengers on board.
The accident happened in the early hours of today, 16th September, 2016 at about 01 30 hours, 2 Km from Serenje turn off in Malekani area when the driver of the bus Baron Chibwe, 39 failed to negotiate a curve due to excessive speed.
Among the deceased, are 15 males, five females and one female juvenile.
Three officers, one from RATSA identified as David Manjulunji and two from Fire Brigade identified as Ernest Mulenga and Mubita Simasiku who were among the officers that were conducting a rescue operation at the scene of the accident died on the spot while six police officers sustained injuries after they were hit by a truck laden with bags of maize which failed to break as it approached the accident scene and the driver did not stop after the accident.
The truck had earlier hit into a RATSA toll truck which was packed at the scene of accident.
The total number of people who have died in both accidents is 25. 11 bodies of the deceased have been transported to Kabwe General Hospital mortuary, 12 are in Serenje General Hospital mortuary, one body has been identified and picked by relatives while the body of Mr Manjulunji has been transported to University Teaching Hospital Mortuary in Lusaka.
Investigations have been instituted to bring to book the driver of the truck who is currently on the run.
In a joint statement, Police Deputy Spokesperson Esther Mwaata Katongo and RTSA Spokesman Frederick Mubanga said the they are yet to propose to government to ban public transport vehicles from moving at night so as to avoid occurrences of such accidents.
Another PSV driver speeding excessively…useless Ratsa is just sleeping instead of reforming everything from putting speed delimiter to more training for PSV& HGV new license holders and also combating corruption.
Forget those RATS. The idyots cannot reissue an expired driving licence in 6 months. Yet an NRC, which is eminently more useful, takes a couple of hours to come out, even for a new user. RATSA is another taxation body, like NAPSA, that is there to create jobs for the boys.
i have always disputed the nonsense of saying every accident is caused by over -speeding. this is a failed reasoning by the low quality thinkers and i will never agree to this notion. the problem we have with the long distance driver is, they are always on the cell phones talking to girl friends or busy gossiping with conductors making them lose concentration.
our roads are busier now and most drivers who got licenses between 2008- and now: bought them. i used to drive from ndola to Lusaka 2hrs and buses were doing 3 1/2hrs no accidents, why? drivers then were proper drivers who wouldnt what the youngstars of nowadays do.
dont blame overspeeding, its feeble mind’s excuse.
ZAMBIAN ROADS ARE BAD NEWS!!!
Driving on Zambian roads can be VERY hazardous. Most roads do not have shoulders or sidewalks, forcing pedestrians and livestock to use the roadways both day and night.
Driver attitude! We must just change our attitude on the road. This is a senseless loss of life, and can be avoided.
RATSA incompetence & corruption. In petroleum transportation, no licence is given unless ALL vehicles have working speed limiters & set at 80km/h. Why is it so difficult to implement the same with buses? Fire that RATSA head, advertise the job & get a professional (not cadre) to run the affairs of RATSA and you’ll definitely see a change within six months.
dRIVING AT NIGHT IS NO PROBLEM , THE PROBLEM IS ON DRIVERS HOW DO YOU ENTER A CURVE AT 120KM/HR AND HOPE TO SURVIVE?? FIRST ALL PUBLIC BUSES BE FITTED WITH SPEEDLIMIT GADGETS TO 100KM/HR MAXIMUM THEN PASSENGERS MUST WARN DRIVER WHEN SPEED IS HIGH , SPEED DISPLAY ON SCREENS BE INSTALLED AS WELL
Zambian passengers are so passive; they hand over their lives to drivers on entering buses. Drivers and their assistants abuse passengers by overloading and starting and stopping as they like. They even get fake pastors to harass passengers before passing the collection plate around. The RATS have no code of conduct for bus drivers. Speed limiters were introduced over a decade ago but these buses drive at 140-150km/h despite being marked as 80km/h max speed. RTSA, like NAPSA, is just jobs for the boys.
Cornering and braking Under ideal conditions, the brakes should only be applied when the car is travelling in a straight line. Braking whilst negotiating a corner is dangerous, so it is vital to slow down before you reach corners. Equally, it is better to slow down gradually, using a combination of gears and brakes, than to use the brakes alone. You are less likely to skid.
Very sad development. I hope they manage to get the trapped out to safety.. May the souls those who have died rest in peace.
I stand to be corrected but I think that over speeding of Public transport vehicles is largely caused by the proprietors who have given drivers high cashing targets and specific period of time to cover certain distances especially long distances. This has caused anxiety among drivers to beat the odds.
I therefore suggest that proprietors and drivers have to be charged together when their bus is involved in an accident due to over speeding. The drivers license has to be suspended for 12 months while the proprietors have to meet all funeral expenses, pay K10 000 to each family who have lost a relative and suspend the company from doing business on that route of accident for 30 days.
These buses move at high speed, yesterday I was coming from Ndola to Kitwe, Mazhandu bus was hammering 140km/h with passengers on board. RATSA needed to work on this asap, speed traps are only there for them to make money for their homes not to help the country at large , put speed limiters on buses not speed traps as we approach /leave the town.
RATSA is just jobs for the boys. It is a useless sponge of national resources.
drivers lack serious concentration on the road and ZINDABA SOKO knows this. This is why he will never come up with a serious scientific investigative report over accidents. His usual casual way is “over-speeding” whatever that means.
This careless loss of life can be avoided if passagers, police and RTSA did their part properly. I was on a Zambia – Malawi Bus this week and the driver was driving like a man on “weed”. I tried to caution the driver but I was reprimanded by my fellow massagers who seemed to be in a hurry and concerned about their arrival than safety. RTSA should do something about long distance public transporters’ excessive speedinig.
We are a very careless people when it comes to road traffic rules. Our Zambian Pipo are dying like flies just like that and no one cares. Please revamp the railway network and barn trucks, vans etc from carrying passengers on top of such vehicles. This is a very sad situation to be in, l really feel so sorry for the departed
Night driving and a single driver doing a round trip. How are we missing this.
Driving at night
Never drive at night unless you have to. Both wild and domestic animals frequently spend the night by the side of busy roads, and will actually sleep on quieter ones. Tar roads are especially bad as the surface absorbs all the sun’s heat by day, and then radiates it at night – making it a warm bed for passing animals. A high-speed collision with any animal, even a small one like a goat, will not only kill the animal, but also cause very severe damage to a vehicle, with potentially fatal consequences.
There should be intermittent road blocks to forcible stop speeding drivers. Unfortunately the reality in Zambia is driving is like a rally or more like a teenage joy ride. Here in the West, people go to entertainment parks to ride fast fun cars, but in Zambia a man swigging from a bottle of Mosi beer and puffing on ‘a smoke,’ puts his foot down on the pedal hard, to heighten his euphoria and feeling of flying like a bird!
God be merciful in Jesus Name. Amen
I agree that to say overspeeding is the cause before analysing the situation is not good enough. Our problem is that Police and RTSA do not investigate an accident scene. They will just hear an account or two from survivors or bystanders and conclude as such? Why is it that all accidents are attributed to overspeeding? Take for example the Chibombo Post Bus accident; was the machine itself looked at? Was the road condition looked at? Okay lets say the bust was overspeeding, does it have to kill so many? May be the built of the bus is such that it does not protect its occupants? So an accident must provide us an opportunity to prevent a similar occurrence in future – that what RTSA must be doing. They must invetsigate every accident thoroughly instead of just arriving at an accident scene…
how does one even decide to speed on a road like this one.?
Travelling across Zambia is no task for the faint of heart or for those who like their luxuries..
MYSRIP, WITHOUT SUSPECTING ANY SACRIFICES OR WHAT HERE OR THERE JUST THAT.
How wish its CHAKOLwa Wrungu’s aeroplane that has crashed.
MAINLY OUR MOTORISTS IN ZAMBIA ARE SIMPLY FAR FROM QUALIFIED- ESPECIALLY THE PUBLIC TRANSPORT DRIVERS. IT DOESN’T TAKE ONE ANY TIME TO NOTICE HOW UN QUALIFIED OUR PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION DRIVERS ARE ONCE YOU GET A RIDE IN ONE OF OUR COMMUTTER AND LONG DISTANCE JOURNEYS. IN FACT RIDING ON ANY BUS IN ZAMBIA IS SO TIRING OUT OF TENTION ONE DEVELOPS DURING THE RIDE BECAUSE THE DRIVING IS SIMPLY FROM HELL. AS A PASSENGER YOU ARE ALWAYS THINKING AN ACCIDENT WILL HAPPEN. THEY ARE SWERVING WHEN OVER-TAKING AROUND EVEN ROAD-BENDS REGARDLESS OF HUMAN GOODS THEY ARE CARRYING. I HAVE TRAVELLED REASONABLEY A LOT ON PUBLIC TRANSPORT IN THE UK AND EUROPE IT FEELS SO SAFE THAT ONE CAN EVEN SLEEP BECAUSE OF HOW CAREFUL AND QUALIFIED DRIVERS ARE HERE. I ALWAYS SUGGEST THAT ZAMBIA SHOULD ADOPT THE BRITISH…
I ALWAYS SUGGEST THAT ZAMBIA SHOULD ADOPT THE BRITISH METHODS OF DRIVERS TRAINNING. IT IS IN 2 PARTS AND SO STRICT AND VERY COMPREHENSIVE. HOW CAN PEOPLE BE DYING ON ROADS ON A MONTHLY BASIS IN ZAMBIA? JUST KNOW THAT SOMETHINGS ARE SERIOUSLY WRONG WITH THE CONNECTED DRIVING REGULATORY SYSTEMS IN ZAMBIA.
Driving in Zambia can be dangerous as many roads are in slippery, in fact most of the roads throughout Zambia are in very poor condition.
Add to that bad driving habits, poorly maintained vehicles, pedestrians, animals wandering onto roads and inadequate road lighting and you’ve got potential threats coming at you from all angles.
Potholes often take up the entire road and during the rainy season, large sections of the roads simply wash away.
It is only in Zambia where passenger Coaches and Buses are allowed to travel in the night even when the hazards are obvious and well known. We don’t know what RATSA is still waiting for before taking the obvious necessary action – too many people have died needlessly.
That Mother Fuc.king, Rat and Caterpillar eating Soko at RATSA does NOT even know what he is doing and what he is supposed to do!! What an ID.IOT we have in that serious job. Perhaps he is waiting for his Grandmother to die in a Road accident and that is when he will wake up!! That Ar.sewhore!!!
An accident can be caused by many factors some examples of which we can say;physical and spiritual.Physical may refere to factors such as driving or operating a machine while performing other unnessesarry activities such as beer drinking,phone operating,failing to obey speed and tracfick rules,lack of education and experience interms of driving proffesion,poor driving policies,machine technical aspects,human mental inabilities etc.Where as spiritual,may include various spiritual beliefs such as supernatural powers and evil forces and anything that is beyond human undastanding and control due to nature or acts of God for whatever reasons.So,all the same from the human perspective,as drivers,passengers,road contractors engineers and researchers inclussive,policy makers,general members of…
Driver under age. Life starts at 40.
Zindaba must also be retired. Period. He has contributed to poor thinking at RTSA.
If traveling to and from Nakonde it will take roughly 12 hrs. Restrict the timetable to five o’clock in the morning and no night travel. The ones condemning RATSA may even be among those who flout traffic regulations.
Whether driving in the dark or in the rains, fire or whatever, sometimes people leave out the real cause and want to play the blame game. Why should we blame the state of the roads all the time? What we forget is that cars are machines which require to be in good hands if they are to work well. Most drivers are controlled by their cars instead of the other way round. Re training of PSV drivers regularly is a must.
You’re right it’s up to the man behind the wheel and RATSA offers. If RATSA will continue allowing improperly trained drivers on our roads, accidents will continue. They say THE BEST TIME TO PREVENT AN ACCIDENT IS BEFORE IT HAPPENS.