President Edgar Lungu has directed Transport and Communications Minister Mutotwe Kafwaya to remove from the road all public service vehicles without seat belts.
President Lungu also urged the Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) to ensure the law that bans people from travelling at the back of vans and trucks is enforced.President Lungu said this when he commissioned the rehabilitated 360 kilometre Great East road (Luangwa to Mwami border) on Wednesday in Chipata, Eastern Province.
The Head of State said this is to protect passengers and reduce the number of fatal road traffic accidents caused by mechanical and human error.
“I have been disheartened, lately, by the spiralling rate of accidents across the country. My firm belief is that accidents only happen due to mechanical and human errors,” the President said.
He directed the Minister of Transport and Communications to review laws relating to traffic offences to deter would be offenders.
“I further urge the Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) to enforce the law that bans people from travelling at the back of trucks and vans. I hope these measures will help reduce the number of fatal accidents,”
Is it mental retarded or just daily hangover?
Instead of saying “install belts in all vehicles, by this afternoon”. He is commanding employees to take another more holidays until belts are installed.
QUOTE: “I further urge the Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) to enforce the law that bans people from travelling at the back of trucks and vans. I hope these measures will help reduce the number of fatal accidents,”.
End of quote.
what will happen when traffic police meet zambians
during funerals most zambians use open vans for transportation, my guess is maybe funeral parlours are expensive.
most rural communities are serviced by open vans traverse in their old ragged bush county roads , these modern buses only use the main well tarred roads.
have also noticed that even ba bwana they use open vans, e.g during political cases at court, to quell riots etc.
am waiting to see how this directive will be implemented.
Yaba….Lungu is disrespecting the office of the President….he doesn’t know what his role is…we need to get rid of this moron very fast…so Lungu now is a traffic officer….i know he is a failed and thieving lawyer…he stole K20000 from a widow…
Fix the economy please please , A president talking about seat beats. Ba lungu how much is fuel today? Has load shedding Finisised? PF Bandits everywhere in government institutions. Load shedding 15hrs everyday and you are talking about seat beats.
We shall know the real mental when he goes to the MUSEUM in Livingstone in 2021.
I am with Edgar on this one. People getting on the back of vans and lorries has been the norm, but we need to move on with the times. Roads are smoother and cars faster now.
In most of the rural areas there are no tarmac yet alone well graded feeder roads fit for the use of passenger service buses. A heavily potholed feeder gravel road can only be accessed by truck in which case people in far flung rural areas have no choice but to use these trucks and to sit at the back of these trucks. Until the Minister of Finance removes all excessive expenditure spent on top govt officers such as the purchasing of Luxury SUVs at a huge cost to the Tax payer rather than using those same funds to improve feeder roads then those in the rural areas will have no choice but to continue using light trucks to commute.
The main causes of accidents are: 1) unattended vehicles left parking on the road which the President correctly highlighted, 2)Zambian drivers bad habit of…
2)Zambian drivers bad habit of failing to pull back on being overtaken, they instead accelerate which can cause the vehicle overtaking to have a head on collision with an oncoming vehicle, 3)over speeding and racing to show off their perceived superior driving skills and vehicle power, 4) drunk driving, 5)worn out tires 6) dangerous crossings by pedestrians, cyclists and domestic animals/livestock 7) drivers that avoid traffic roadblocks leading to accidents 8) incompetent drivers 9)tiredness when driving 10) failing to lower headlights to low beam at night/use of LED headlights
Ratsa need to sensitive the people of the dangers of the above highlighted areas, I have never seen Ratsa conduct traffic awareness campaigns apart from a few players and billboards we need to see radio and…
Ratsa need to sensitive the people on the dangers of the above highlighted areas, I have never seen Ratsa conduct traffic awareness campaigns apart from a few plays and billboards we need to see radio and TV shows where they highlight dangers of parking vehicles on the road and many other issues such as overspeeding by public service drivers. Let’s be proactive as these are lives we are dealing with, we have all lost loved ones to traffic accidents and this is killing too many innocent people.
You know, but also these people in the ministries/departments or whatever, on what merit are they hired/appointed? They have no capacity to think, as usual. Even when they can see something that can be fixed, they sit ndwii, why Zambia, why, and we are 55 years old???
FINALLY SEAT BELTS IN BUSES I DON’T IF THIS WILL SEAT WE’LL WITH CONDUCTORS…I KNOW TRAFFIC POLICE ARE CELEBRATING THIS WILL DOUBLE THEIR INCOME
Lungu is just pontaring with a hangover , where will poor people travel if not in back of vans and trucks ????
He gets it right to say it is speed and mechanically unsound vehicles killing people , now knowing Zambia is a 3rd world country , his directives are uneconomic,
He would have made more sense directing increased speed patrols and increased fitness tests on public transport
Just look at how widely read posts from
“ spaka, most influential blogger “
are…. …people are reading and taking notice , thumbs up or down , but people are following…
With this much votes, spaka can win any category on LT
Hehehehe
The Head of State said this is to protect passengers and reduce the number of fatal road traffic accidents caused by mechanical and human error.
With all due respect to our fellow citizens,Most vehichles have seat belts passangers just somehow find it hard to put on their seat belts due to ignorance
Note; it is with these petty things that we don’t pay attention to which will cause our lives be in Limbo.
PLEASE ENSURE THAT YOUR SAFETY COMES FIRST!!!
Very good intentions but we must face reality..where will the custom fit seat belts come from,when that is done numbers will reduce to 9 from 14 then out of 9 passengers 2 go to line’ then 2 to PF bus stop thugs,2 to traffic police finally1 to bus owner!!Our president and RATSA are we aware of challenges of public transports,charges? Which transport will go to the Lukanga swamp which has been ignored by everyone but brings fish to Mpongwe and Copperbelt? Why even Lusaka -Ndola road is a death trap for every small car with the large ridge?Good heart your Excellency but get on the ground and witness the challenges the already overtaxed motorist let find a way to reduce morality
Tesana mumutwe, it is now confirmed, the man has no capacity to think…. Bu chakolwa
What about the traffic cops who travel at the back of a van. Who will control them?
The president has hit the right nails on their heads! That is the normal way to travel! However, it will take time for our Zambians to understand that Road Safety is not a game of chance! It will require a lot of behaviour change to improve our SAFETY CULTURE! A little Physics is what our people need to appreciate to understand why people die on our roads! Our Education System should make Physics compulsory! All you need to understand is RELATIVE VELOCITY and FORCES ACTING! Seatbelts have saved several lives even in fatal accidents! It’s worse at the back of a truck or van where there are obviously no seatbelts! The worst form of carelessness is allowing one self to travel unrestrained on any vehicle! Even on Aircraft, we fasten our seatbelts. How much more with vehicles? Zambians, we…
Zambians, we are dying carelessly! Lets change our wayward ways and embrace Road safety in full!
Our president has lost all touch with reality.
We are not saying he is wrong , but in the current economic climate , millions of Zambians get about by hitching rides on the back of trucks and vans,
And how will you fit seat belts on those modified backie buses ? Even in Western Europe public hop on hop off buses don’t have seat belts…
Just raise more money by issuing more fines for speeding and increase speed cameras ….polluting and unfit vehicles should be removed from roads, and tighten drivers licence tests especially for buses and trucks
That is why Zambia is in economic doldrums…..lungu is detached from reality,
All these issues are RTSA’s responsibility. Assess the underlying causes of failures and take action. This rule by directives is becoming irritating.
The habit of ECL ‘commissioning’ everything is also ridiculous. With all the officials in various positions, no one ‘opens’ anything except ECL. Populist maneuvers or a complete misconception of his job description, if he has one? He never addresses critical social-economic issues or offers direction.