Make Night in Zambia Travel Safe!
By Mthoniswa Banda
THE Zambia Roads & Highway Safety Group (ZRHSG) notes that most roads and highways in Zambia are not fit for night travel there by making night travel in Zambia a very risky undertaking.
The Zambia Roads & Highway Safety Group observes that many roads in Zambia are not equipped with light reflective materials and proper road signage to inform, guide and caution the driver during night travel.
“Apart from the new Chingola - Solwezi road, new sections of the Ndola – Kitwe dual carriage way, some sections of the Great East road after Luangwa Bridge heading East and the Zimba –Livingstone stretch, most highways have no night appropriate markings and light reflective signage. The close to 700km of the Lusaka - Mongu Road has zero or little visibility,” says Group Admin Mthoniswa Banda.
The Zambia Roads & Highway Safety Group urges the Government to ensure every road designed, approved and built this year takes into consideration the need for improved light reflective signage and safety needs of night travellers, pedestrians and cyclists to reduce on the already high number of accidents and fatalities recorded last year.
According to Zambia police report, more than 1,700 people perished in close to 30,700 road traffic accidents recorded in Zambia in 2019 alone.
“Our belief is that one life lost on our road is one life too many and we feel that upgrading all our roads to acceptable standards for night travel will in a way ensure that all Zambian roads will become safe for use during the day and during the night.
“We also believe that when night travel is made safe, more and more people will opt to travel at night, especially heavy slow vehicles, there by decongesting our roads which become congested as early as 05 hours with desperate motorists trying to get to their destination before businesses open,” says Group Admin Mthoniswa Banda.
The Zambia Roads and Highway Safety Group appeals to road constructions companies and local authorities still working on new roads to ensure all four ways, stop points and dangerous curves are well marked and visible signs placed to warn the traveling public on the dangers of these points to reduce chances of accidents happening.
The Zambia Roads & Highway Safety Group (ZRHSG) is an online road safety group with over 2,450 road safety ambassadors and is for sharing personal experiences and knowledge on road safety issues on Zambian roads and Highways by road users. These discussions will help identify road safety issues, bad policies and bad road designs requiring improvement by government and its agencies such as RTSA, RDA, NRFA, ZP and local councils.
Every week, the ZRHSG will produce a statement summarising the group discussion and sharing this opinion with Road Safety agencies and other policy makers so they improve Zambia’s Road Safety.