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It is that time of the year once again when drivers carry that huge responsibility to preserve life by avoiding road traffic accidents. Every Zimbabwean hopes that this festive season will be different and that drivers will heed the message to take all precautionary measures on the roads. We have often wondered why it seems efforts by Government and its agencies on campaigns against road traffic accidents are failing to bear any positive outcomes.

Year in and year out, we are confronted with gloomy statistics of fatal road traffic accidents, despite such costly campaigns. Yet, the festive season should bring joy to families, not mourning.

We are bracing for a much longer holiday this time around, considering that next Tuesday, December 27, will be a public holiday as it comes after Boxing Day on Monday.

It is likely that many people will take a break from work starting today ahead of the Unity Day holiday tomorrow until at least January 2 next year. Drivers should ensure that this long holiday is not turned into long days of mourning for road accident victims.

Past statistics are already frightening and this makes many of us approach this festive season with trepidation. At least 130 people died during the same period from December 15, 2015 to January 2, 2016, in road accidents.

This is why we are calling for greater introspection by our drivers this time around. It is within the drivers’ powers to minimise chances of road accidents by taking the necessary precautionary measures. Speeding has been identified as one of the major causes of road accidents, but it seems the addiction is refusing to ease.

Every driver should adopt a new culture of reminding themselves of the dangers that lie ahead once they take to the wheel.

Apart from speeding, we have been losing precious lives to the same reasons every festive season — drinking and driving, negligence, fatigue, error of judgment, lapse of concentration and many others.

All these are preventable causes of road accidents. There are also a lot of bad habits inherent in our drivers that contribute to the accidents. Failure to co-operate with other drivers and give each other way, especially on sections where the road is bad, can be fatal.

Some drivers do not consider it worthwhile to dip their headlights for oncoming vehicles or when following other vehicles. Driving on the highway is not a race, so drivers should resist that urge to increase speed once they are overtaken.

Getting easily frustrated and angry over the bad behaviour of other drivers can actually result in lack of concentration on the road. We have often wondered why a driver who is sleepy still insists on driving on instead of taking a siesta.

Speaking of peace, the late Vice President John Nkomo once said: “Peace begins with me, peace begins with you and peace begins with all of us”.

In the spirit of Unity Day tomorrow, drivers should adopt the same slogan and tell themselves that this festive season “Road safety begins with me, road safety begins with you and road safety begins with all of us”.