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The death toll from the accident involving two buses along the Harare-Nyamapanda highway on Sunday has left many Zimbabweans in shock and the families directly affected even more devastated.

In a the flash, 26 people, including 11 children, lost their lives in broad daylight.

The accident, which has since been declared a national disaster, occurred at around 11am.

The scale of human waste is just unacceptable in a civilised country, but it also does highlight the need for Government to prioritise human safety in its development programmes.

We take this opportunity to thank Government for coming to the aid of the bereaved families in their hour of need, that is what a caring Government does.

President Mugabe recently ordered expansion work to begin immediately in the dualisation of the Chirundu-Harare-Beitbridge highway, a major road which has become a death trap for many. We hope that order will be followed by implementation by those contracted to undertake construction work.

Police reports over the years have made the same observation concerning accidents on Zimbabwe’s roads; they are caused mainly by human error. We believe this to be true, but not necessarily because we have the worst drivers in the world.

Part of the problem is what prompted the President to order immediate attention on the Chirundu-Harare-Beitbridge highway. Our roads are too narrow for busy national highways. In fact some of them are more of strips than highways. This is particularly evident when they are set against what has been done to the Plumtree-Mutare highway which has been upgraded into a real highway.

While Government detractors will never want to give Zanu-PF credit for anything, that road is now a pleasure to drive on. It has a wide shoulder for vehicles to overtake with minimum risk of collision. In fact, most accidents along that road nowadays are due to vehicles overturning because of excessive speed.

That road should be the benchmark for all of the country’s national highways, particularly the Beitbridge-Harare-Chirundu and the Harare-Nyamapanda highways. The roads simply need to be open. The other matter calling for immediate action is the need to erect fences along the highways to stop animals straying onto the roads. This has caused many fatalities especially at night. This gets worse during the wet rainy season.

While it is important to caution drivers against violating speed limits, we cannot run away from the fact that drivers are human. Once one gets on the road the next thing they think of is their destination. Nobody wants to spend the whole day driving from Harare to Nyamapanda at 80km/hour. It is an unrealistic expectation and the police know it.

Unfortunately the bad state of some of our roads does not permit the recommended speed of 120km/hour for open roads for private vehicles. Even bus drivers rarely stick to the stipulated 80km/per hour. As soon as they pass the police roadblock, they forget about those limits, hence the often fatal side-swipes and head-on collisions on our narrow roads.

The latest accident just reminds us that no one is safe driving on Zimbabwean roads. It does not help to keep moaning about something which can be fixed. Even Zim-Asset puts infrastructure development as one of the key enablers in the country’s economic growth.

That means our roads must get top priority status, not simply to save lives, although that on its own would be a noble target, but also because it makes business sense to have safe roads.

We want to acknowledge that it is important for drivers to have regular medical examination, to undertake defensive driving lessons and to adhere to recommended speed limits. But we want to stress also that it is important to have wide roads. There is need to invest in those roads to save lives and promote business.

We are losing many lives in a callous manner. Road accidents should not be treated like a natural phenomenon when it is obvious that something can be done to minimise their cost in human lives.

The latest tragedy along the Harare-Nyamapanda highway cost young lives and breadwinners. Many injured are still in hospitals, some nursing what may turn out to be permanent life injuries. That should shock Government into action.

We have had more than enough of the carnage on our roads and that cannot be stopped by apportioning blame, regardless of how well-founded the blame might be.