Former Transport and Communications Minister, William Harrington says concerns by members of the public on the newly introduced road traffic speed cameras are genuine.
Mr. Harrington says while these cameras are meant to help reduce traffic accidents, there should have been more sensitization on their installation.
In a walk-in interview with QTV News, Mr. Harrington is of the view that the Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) should have put signage on roads where these cameras have been installed.
He says he believes that the RTSA should be about regulating road traffic through education as opposed to imposing punitive fines on contravening motorists.
Mr. Harrington has also suggested to the RTSA to also consider increasing the speed limit on the Great East Road from the current 60 kilometers per hour to 80 kilometers.
He believes that a speed limit of 80 Kilometers per hour on a road like the Great East Road is reasonable as it is neither too fast nor too slow
I disagree Mr Harrington ,fines and taking away licenses is the way to go.The painful loss of lives on roads and thru cholera should teach us that draconian measures are needed to save us from our laxity.
Not sure where Harrington is coming from or going with this. Completely off. I commend RTSA for being progressive.
RTSA has taking over all responsibilities of ZP Traffic, to extent of entering bedroom ukubeya amaso. Concubines should have limits.
the reason why you have a sign before a speed hump is for you to slow down .The point of these cameras is not catch people out but to make sure that a particular speed is adhered to on that section of the road .You need to move away from behaving like a school prefect .Imagine there is a person from out of town ,they speed in because they haven’t seen the cameras and in a process have an accident and die ,Would it not have been better to have a sign that would have caused that motorist to reduce speed and save their life ?Governments are put in place for the well being of the citizenry not that they dictate what they think is right .The right approach is sensitization and proper signage which the ratsa chief executive agreed that they should have done .So for me your thoughts are…
Bo Harrington, maximum 60kph is good enough for any motorist on those roads regardless of time of day! On our roads, pedestrians and cyclists disproportionately suffer injury and death at much lower motor vehicle speeds than the 60kph. It appears bo Harrington will not even be relevant in Barotseland if it came into being in the near future!
Personally I think that the surplus monies raised from such RTSA initiatives as well as regular budgetary allocations should be used to improve mobility for pedestrians and cyclists who by the way make up at least 70% of traveling public …
I too disagree with the minister. It should be a combination of both. Teaching and sensitization should be done when individuals go to get their driving licenses. That’s why they give a written test ( I hope they do) to make sure that all would be drivers understand all the traffic rules. After that enforcement should follow. Nothing wrong with penalizing people for reckless driving. So the Cameras are okay.
Nothing Wrong with speed cameras! Keep it up RTSA!
I conquer with you 1000%. Cameras are not an issue here. If we want to argue here lets talk about the presence of the speed limit signs on all sections of the roads being regulated, period.
Of course only individuals with ill intentions and something to hide will oppose any idea meant to reduce on the carnage on our roads.
With due respect I totally disagree with Mr Harrington that the road traffic management must be lenient with erring drivers. For starters any road is public property therefore drink drivers and those chosing to drive above national speed limits must be severely punished. They must face financial consequences or jail terms for serious offences. Stop appeasing careless road users.
I totally disagree… this is rather disappointing… is this the man who was the head at that ministry? No wonder we were going nowhere!
What a disappointment!
Those caught on CCTV or camera misbehaving should blame themselves and not the cameras meant to protect the public. How can a former cabinet minster make such a low level comment to such an important topic?
No comment, I will only comment if I see statistics of things like reduced accidents on the roads with cameras, etc. I wont rush to say its good or bad. Because I am a realist and quite sensible in my approach to issues, I will only open my mouth after a careful analysis of what would been achieved in 3 to 6 months.
Passive attitude.
Mr.Harrington times have changed. Well done RTSA!! Install as many as you can all over Zambia to bring sanity. I rest my case.
He was once a minister of transport, what has done to reduce road carnage?
These arguments can only happen in africa
Well it seems RTSA has paid cadres to comment on this platform. Harrington is right.RTSA should put signs and speed limits should be increased from 60KM/h to 80km/hr or 100km/h in Great east road.These paid cadres working in RTSA are busy commenting.Any normal Zambia can’t support this nonsense by Zidaba soko.The man always looks drunk and u nowonder he makes crazy decisions.The money behaves like secondary school prefect of 1980s.
Zambians let us stand up for tis injustice and protect our data.Rtsa should be sued for giving data to lamise perioid.When it comes to money all taxes from everywhere are introduced but service delivery is very poor.Look at water pipo have no water as a result they are drilling boreholes.Intsead of govt taking water to the pipo to discourage boreholes…
Well it seems RTSA has paid cadres to comment on this platform. Harrington is right.RTSA should put signs and speed limits should be increased from 60KM/h to 80km/hr or 100km/h in Great east road.These paid cadres working in RTSA are busy commenting.Any normal Zambia can’t support this nonsense by Zidaba soko.The man always looks drunk and nowonder he makes crazy decisions.The man behaves like secondary school prefect of 1980s.
Zambians let us stand up for this injustice and protect our data.Rtsa should be sued for giving data to lamise period.When it comes to money all taxes from everywhere are introduced but service delivery is very poor.Look at water pipo have no water as a result they are drilling boreholes.Intsead of govt taking water to the pipo to discourage boreholes…
Moscow and the rest that are condemning Zindaba lets go back to the basics; arithmetics. The distance from town to Chelstone is 30km. A person driving from town to Chelstone at 65Km/hour would take 27minutes to reach Chelstone and a man doing 80Km/hour would take 23minutes. The only time saved is 5minutes. However, the level of risks associated with accidents for one travelling at 80km/h are more than 70% compared to one travelling at 65Km/hour. The time saved with respect to increase in speed is linear while the risks associated with increase in speed is exponential. Speeding is always about the thrill you get than saving time. I support Zindaba
A speed limit 100Km/h on the Great East Road between the CBD and Chelston would surely be excessive but 80Km/h is fine. The argument of road carnage does not to hold as a keen observer will note that deaths due to motoring on this stretch of occur mostly after 20:00hrs and before 06:00hrs when the speed camaras are DISMOUNTED.
A speed limit 100Km/h on the Great East Road between the CBD and Chelston would surely be excessive but 80Km/h is fine. The argument of road carnage does not appear to hold as a keen observer will note that deaths due to motoring on this stretch of road occur mostly after 20:00hrs and before 06:00hrs when the speed camaras are DISMOUNTED.
The main intention of RTSA was to set a ‘trap’ on us so we are caught unawares and thereby make us pay heavy fines with a view to raising funds for this debt-ridden government. Shame!
If murderers and other criminals were sentenced only for a day in prison, we all would start making money by stealing. But because the sentences are punitive the majority of the citizenry shun the involvement in all crime.
I think no one is disputing the installation of speed cameras. its a good move.The real issue is the implementation process. i think RTSA should have done better. its like they really wanted to catch users by surprise. I wish they were as swift to send SMSs to pre warn of the impending installations as they are when sending SMSs fpr the fines.
@Milimo well said. The problem pa Zed is vose ni punishment cabe. It is as if these guys in charge of the country are the ones who were always in trouble ku sukulu. That is all they seem to know. Punish – punish – punish. In some countries you feel cool when you come across a cop because he will not likely be lambasting you or harassing you for something wrong. Me I don’t know pa Zed mwe.
Let me get this straight. Does this now mean that the Traffic Police section of Zambia Police will no longer do their impromptu speed camera traps, tefyo? Because, me teacher I don’t know – even on these highways you see someone with a camera – another one with a camera, then a roadblock. Awe mwe. Let’s know kusiyana-siyana ya ma offesi bwino-bwino kaili!
Speed cameras are long over due …Zambians drive like lunatics during the day and are mostly drunk at night…just ask ZP about hit and run cases…but I still think RTSA is corrupt and the organisation would have given out this project on its own 100% and subcontracting the contract to a reputable telecoms/electronic specialist to deliver and maintain the project. As for Soko, I saw a live interaction of him on TV…I am not convinced he is the right man for that job…Zambia is quite new to this traffic management and should have hired a consultant or foreign director on 5 year contract.
We all know now that there are speed cameras, therefore let’s stop complaining and observe the limit. The speed limits are clearly visible so why complain? I urge RTSA to mount speed cameras on all major highways in the country from East, North, South, West.
We have a tendency as Zambians to marvel at orderliness in countries we visit but complain when attempts are made to bring sanity and order in the Zambia. Order in the countries we admire are due to laws that are enforced such as speed cameras to control speed and reduce accidents. Therefore why do we complain about speed cameras in Zambia? Let’s observe the speed limit on the roads and we will nothing to worry about.
Speed cameras are here to stay! They are an excellent development by RTSA. As for speed limits on Great East Road, 60km/hr is just about right. There are many roads feeding into the highway and there are only 2 pedestrian bridges crossing this very busy road. Besides this, the road passes through residential neighbourhoods with a lot of people crossing it daily. Increasing the limit on this road will result in more pedestrian deaths. Let us learn to start our journeys early if we want to arrive at our destinations early.
So accidents happen only great easy road near marshlands and munali? How can the speed limit be reduced to 60km/hr along airport road? The speed shouldn’t be fair enough, 70 or 80km/hr is fair. Also let them put BIG WELL LABELED sign posts.
All I see is RTSA hiding their cameras to catch as many motorists as possible to generate money for the GRZ. The idea by RTSA seems not as a preventive measure because you can’t hide cameras. In Europe cameras are in open view with well labeled sign posts. But if you hide the camera with poorly labeled sign post limits which you have to look around while driving is WRONG. Don’t hide to raise money. It is another fund raising venture. Tolls, road tax, cameras, carbon emission etc. We are in trouble. I don’t object to cameras but please let everything…