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Crime Reporter
Human error causes over 94 percent of all road traffic crashes, which have claimed lives on the country’s major roads, the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe (TSCZ) has said.

The council said about five people are killed on the country’s roads everyday while approximately 38 people are also injured. Human error encompasses speeding, inattention or misjudgement, negligent pedestrians and negligent passengers.

According to a research by the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe entitled, “Critical analysis of the road traffic crashes in Zimbabwe — A reflection of the 2016 Road Traffic Crashes Collision Statistics”, the statistics were compiled by the police National Traffic Branch.

“The paper can reveal that human error contributed more than 94 percent of all the recorded road traffic crashes for the year 2016. The highest percentage of these crashes occurred on the recently rehabilitated Harare-Plumtree Highway.” TSCZ said speeding was the single contributor of road traffic collisions in the country.

“Comparatively, road traffic crashes declined by seven percent from those recorded in the previous year, 2015. The total number of people killed and injured also went down by two percent and 11 percent respectively,” the council said.

TSCZ said road traffic safety actors and stakeholders must galvanise all their efforts toward eradication of human error in road traffic deaths, injury and property damage. Last year, a total of 1 700 people were killed while 11 392 others were injured in 38 606 accidents recorded.

In 2015, 41 494 accidents were recorded, which resulted in 1 762 people killed while 12 822 others were injured. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) last year, more than 1,3 million people were killed and more than 50 million were injured in road crashes on the world’s road annually.

About 90 percent of these deaths occur in developed countries. At least 930 people have been killed in 22 259 road traffic accidents recorded across the country between January and July this year.

The figure represents an increase in the number of road deaths as 806 were killed in the corresponding period last year in 22 591 incidents reported. About 4 222 people were injured during the period under review.