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Crime Reporter
Transport operators have urged motorists to follow traffic rules and regulations when travelling on the roads to avoid road accidents that have claimed a lot of lives in recent months. This comes after a horror bus crash that claimed 43 lives and injured 33 others along the Harare-Chirundu Highway on Wednesday night. In a statement on Friday, Greater Harare Association of Commuter Operators secretary general Mr Ngoni Katsvairo said they were shocked and saddened by the accident.

“As one of the operator associations, we have been saddened by this tragic event caused by human error and would like to wish the injured passengers a speedy recovery, as well as pass our deepest condolences to the families of the deceased,” he said.

“It is during this time of grief that we as operators must introspect and urge our drivers to always follow all road rules and regulations with a view to preserve the sanctity of our passengers’ precious life.”

Passenger Association of Zimbabwe president Mr Tafadzwa George Goliati said there was need for all passenger service vehicles to be installed with speed limit gadgets or governor devices.

“Speeding, driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs, burst tyres and night driving continue to prey over peoples lives. We request that all buses and kombis should have a speed limiter/governor device; that all long distance vehicles, including cross border transporters, should be banned from night travel; that Vehicle Inspection Department and police should strictly regulate and enforce bus fitness and that bus owners and drivers’ negligence should be heavily penalised, of which the latter will require parliamentary legislation.”

Mr Katsvairo said it was unfortunate that the King Lion bus company, whose vehicle killed the 43 people on Wednesday, was involved in another tragedy in the Kafue, Zambia, accident that claimed 12 people on July 19, 2015. About 53 others were injured in that accident.

In 2014, another bus from the same company, ironically in the same month of July, collided head-on with a vehicle, killing Chronicle Business Editor Mernat Mafirakureva and a passenger on the bus a few kilometres from Harare, along the Harare-Masvingo Highway.