THE Zambian Roads & Highway Safety Group (ZRHSG) welcomes the decision to close all right hand turns on all newly built roads and on busiest roads within Lusaka as announced by the Lusaka City Mayor, Mr Miles Sampa

The Group believes closing all right hand turns will lead to a faster and a smoother flow of traffic around Lusaka as those in the inner lane or the fast lane move faster without any delays or disturbances.

The Group believes this move will also help reduce the many incidences of accidents recorded on these busy roads.

The Group therefore welcomes the Mayor of Lusaka’s recent announcement that all islands starting with the newest roads will be closed permanently thereby making Lusaka a No Right Hand Turn city.

The Zambian Roads and Highway Safety Group has always advocated for turning busiest roads into a No Right Hand Turn roads in the Lusaka CBD- Central Business District – and instead use traffic circles or roundabouts – to enable traffic intending to turn right to go round and make U turns at the traffic circle for them to come around and have access the other lanes.

This will effectively make the busy roads in Lusaka “Turn Left Only” roads and free the inner lanes for fast lanes.

Most delays on the fast lane or inner lane are caused by vehicles blocking the fast lane as they wait for their turn to turn right.

These waitings or dead stops on busy roads like on Addis Ababa, Los Angeles Boulevard, Great East Rd, Kamloops, Burma, Chilimbulu, Katima Mulilo, Tokyo Ring Road among others, have been a cause of many road traffic accidents recorded on these roads.

The Group is hopefully the Lusaka City Council will go further and make by laws that will compel road constructors that all new roads built in Lusaka be “No Right Turn’ Roads.

Another area the by laws will come in handy is to demand that new roads have space for cyclists and pedestrians to walk or use these roads safely.

“When all roads have their islands closed and no vehicles allowed to turn right or cut across busy roads, there will be faster flow of traffic, reduced time spent on the road and reduced number of road traffic accidents recorded. There will also be enough space for pedestrians and cyclists to use.

The Group urges RDA, RTSA and other road safety and transport agencies to develop a habit of listening to advise from advocacy groups like the way the Mayor Miles Sampa has done.

Patriotic Front (PF) Secretary-General Hon. Davies Mwila says the PF government under the leadership President Edgar Lungu considers education as a fundamental basic human right that every Zambian citizen is entitled to.

Speaking when he officiated at the fundraising luncheon organized by St. Peter and Paul Church in Chingola, Hon Mwila stated that the PF views education as an investment and not a cost.

He explained that this is the reason why the PF government under the leadership of President Lungu has continued to invest billions of Kwachas in the education sector to ensure access to quality and affordable education for all.

“The PF Government, being a pro-poor Government, believes in universal access to general education for all citizens,” Hon. Mwila said.

The party Chief Executive Officer explained that the PF Government has in the past 9 years constructed 14,235 primary schools, 4,690 secondary schools, 14 trades schools, and increased the number of public universities from 3 to 7.
And Hon. Mwila said the PF party recognize and appreciates the great works that the Catholic Church in general and St. Peter and Paul, in particular, are doing in complimenting the government’s efforts in the provision of education.

“It is for this reason that when we saw your invitation we did not hesitate to come and be a part of this fundraising luncheon,” he said.

Hon.Mwila stressed that the PF will continue to work with the Church in fostering national development, unity and peace.

He said the party believe that apart from preaching the good news, the church has an obligation to meet the physical needs of people adding that this is why the party has been working hand in hand with the Church to uplift the living standards of Zambians.

“Father MUTUNU, I know that we are here to raise money for the school that your parish is building; according to the information I have, your target is K700,000. This money will go towards the completion of the school for our children here,” he said.

The PF Secretary General has since appealled to the business Community and members of the public to contribute towards the construction of the school.

Over K400, 000 cash was raised during the luncheon from the invited guests.

Among the notable people who attended the event include Chifubu Member of Parliament Hon. Dr. Frank Ng’ambi, Health Minister Dr. Jonas Chanda, former Sports Minister and Nchanga Member of Parliament Hon. Richard Kazala and other party officials.

Organisers of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games held an operational test event for rugby sevens on Thursday, with 95 days before the first match of the tournament on 26 July.

The event was held at Tokyo Stadium, which will host all six days of action during the Games and was the site of the opening match of the hugely successful Rugby World Cup 2019.

Organisers from the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee and the Japanese Rugby Football Union tested a variety of operational measures around exhibition matches featuring players from Japan’s men’s and women’s national sevens teams, albeit with no fans in attendance.

According to a statement from the event organisers obtained by ZANIS sports, the match-day operations were simulated as they will be during the Olympics, complete with match officials, ground staff, the teams being announced on the stadium speakers and music being played after every try.

The event also provided organisers with another chance to test out COVID-19 countermeasures, including players wearing masks during the warm-up, all areas being frequently disinfected and the use of a small vehicle to return stray balls to the field of play.

The Japanese players on show are currently within their own training bubble and were kept separate from media and officials during the event.

The operational testing went off without a hitch, and Tokyo 2020 Deputy Executive Director Yasuo Mori was pleased with the outcome: “This is the first occasion where we have worked as one team at this rugby event.

“ We have been able to share information and coordinate accordingly. This has been the biggest learning from this event.”

Rugby sevens is a key priority for World Rugby and its Olympic debut at the Rio 2016 Games had an unmistakable effect on the sport, attracting an estimated 30 million new fans globally.

The sport is one of the most hotly anticipated events of the Tokyo Games, following the outstanding success of Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan and the performance of the Japan men’s sevens team at Rio, where they beat the likes of New Zealand and France on the way to a fourth-placed finish.

“We are massively excited about being back in Japan.

“It is a great opportunity for us. We know that a successful rugby sevens program in the Olympics is a great showcase for our sport, a great driver for future fans and players and is an inspirational pathway.

“ We know Japan will be great hosts, no matter what the circumstances, ” said World Rugby Chief Executive Alan Gilpin.

To ensure teams are as best prepared as possible for the Olympic Games, World Rugby is investing US$4 million into qualified unions’ sevens programmes and high-performance preparation events as the teams prepare for Tokyo.

The final two women’s and one men’s team will seal their place in Tokyo during the Repechage – the final Olympic qualification event – in Monaco on 19-20 June.

The Lusaka City Council (LCC) has switched off traffic lights at Great East and Lufubu roads’ Great East and Lufubu roads.

The move has been necessitated to mitigate the traffic build up that has been observed at the junction during peak hours and the right turn into East Park Mall has been closed to ensure safety of road users.

LCC Assistant Public Relations Manager Thelma Mbewe highlights in a statement obtained by ZANIS that the measures have been put in place to the smooth flow of traffic following the newly constructed Arcades fly over bridge constructed under the Lusaka Decongestion Project.

“Motorists coming from the western direction heading east that want to access the mall should do so from the Arcades traffic circle,” she said.

She added that the authority has a mandate to maintain safety of the general public adding that all abide by the set road rules.