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Freeman Razemba Crime Reporter
The Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe (TSCZ) has embarked on road traffic speed management awareness campaigns at bus termini and taxi ranks in Harare as part of the Global Safety Week.

TSCZ is targeting speeding motorists during this year’s edition of Global Safety Week that began on Monday and ends on Sunday.

Government is set to launch the Global Safety Week tomorrow in Harare and it will coincide with the anniversary of the launch of the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety.

The event, which is running under the theme “Save Lives #Slow Down”, will also see authorities carrying out road traffic speed management campaigns at Mbare Musika, Fourth Street, Market Square, Charge Office and Copacabana termini and ranks.

TSCZ marketing officer Mr Tatenda Chinoda said law enforcement agents should have a zero tolerance on speeding and everyone found doing so should be brought to book.

He said last year of about 38 000 crashes that were recorded countrywide, 27 percent were as a result of speeding.

“So, you can see that speed is the greatest risk when it comes to the occurrence of road crashes on our roads,” said Mr Chinoda. “But this is a human error and that is why we argue and say that human error constitutes more than 94 percent of crashes.”

Mr Chinoda said Government should consider employing the latest technologies to manage speed on the roads. “While Government is committed to speed management, now is the time for drivers to rehabilitate their speeds by avoiding excessive speeds and inappropriate speeds,” Mr Chinoda said.

He said some drivers were stubborn, heartless, reckless and errant to the extent that they had no discipline to manage their speeds.

“In this regard, a law must be passed for all public service vehicles to have in-vehicle technology or the in-vehicle speed governors,” said Mr Chinoda. “This will manage the speed of the car if speed limit is reached and it will force the driver to slow down. At a certain speed limit, the speed governors will sense that the driver is about to exceed the speed limit and it will cut on the fuel and on the speed automatically.

“This is what we want when we want to arrest the problem of speeding. Also, road traffic enforcement agents must rigorously enforce speed limits.”