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Anesu Tonde Herald Reporter

Transporters have called on Government to enforce Statutory Instrument 129 of 2015 that compels all public passenger vehicles to be fitted with speed limiting devices in order to reduce accidents.

The call comes after a series of accidents that have claimed hundreds of lives in recent months with the latest being the Odzi bus accident that killed 16 people last week.

Statutory Instrument 129 of 2015 (64) (2) states that; “No person shall drive on any road a passenger public service vehicle or a heavy vehicle with a net mass of 4 600kg or more, unless one of the following speed monitoring or speed limiting devices is fitted to the vehicle (a) a tachograph (b) a tacho-log (c) vehicle data recorder (d) fleet manager (e) co-driver (f) any other speed monitoring or speed limiting device which the Minister, after consultation with the Standards Association of Zimbabwe may publish in the Gazette.”

Passenger Association of Zimbabwe (PAZ)president Mr Tafadzwa Golliat yesterday called on the Government to strictly enforce the statutory instrument.

“It is high time that Government makes it mandatory for all passenger service vehicles, lorries and haulage trucks to have speed limiters. This will prevent avoidable accidents that are due to speeding and negligence such as the bus accident that recently happened near Odzi River,” he said.

Mr Golliat also called on authorities to come up with a criteria that awards best drivers.

Mr Tendai Mujuru, a speed limiter device expert with Sytech Africa also said once the law is enforced it will reduce accidents by 60 percent.

“This has been a long overdue move. It is now time the law that requires all public service vehicles to be fitted with the device be enforced, that can help save thousands of lives,” he said.

National Transport Drivers Association (NTDA) president Mrs Jotina Matanhire said it was disappointing that despite warnings, road carnage due to speeding was still high.