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Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Mercedes Benz that was hit by a Ford Transit van (inset) along Herbert Chitepo Avenue in Harare on Wednesday

The accident involving Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Emmerson Mnangagwa on Wednesday night fortunately caused no injuries although the vehicles are damaged and if things had been just a little different there could have been someone seriously hurt.
In many ways the accident was typical of the dozens of accidents Police Traffic have to deal with every day in Harare and they can expect to deal with more as the rains start.

Since speeds on busy city roads are not that high, the accidents are almost always non-fatal and usually do not result in serious injury, or even any injury.

But almost every one of these accidents is the result of at least one driver making a mistake, or breaking the law and sometimes both drivers make the wrong decisions. Police Traffic normally sort out efficiently what happened, assign blame and fine or charge the driver in the wrong. But the accidents continue happening.

The reason why Wednesday’s night accident made the headlines was because of the high profile of one of the drivers, a long-serving Cabinet Minister. But it does highlight both the accident rate in the city, and the need to protect Government leaders.

There have been suggestions in the past that Ministers should not drive themselves, but rather use their Government drivers at all times. This is probably an excellent idea for long trips, especially when night driving is involved. Several senior people in Government have been killed in high-speed smashes on the main roads and the general practice of the private sector, that valuable executives, and quite often ordinary staff, are driven by a professional driver when they have to make long journeys by road seems a good practice to adopt.

But many Ministers, and most private sector executives, would probably object to having to hunt down their driver just to be taken home and then have the inconvenience of calling for a driver when they want to leave home or visit a friend at night.

So the solution appears to be for Zimbabwean drivers to get better and to follow best practice when driving.
The Wednesday accident, for example, occurred on a busy road involving vehicles travelling in the same direction. Initially reports had attributed the accident to a sudden U-turn which no driving expert would recommend. Driving around a block would be advised in that area at that time, and in other circumstances turning into a quiet side road for the U-turn is the best practice. A two minute delay would have avoided the possibility of a crash.

And, as the police will tell anyone who wants to listen, almost all urban accidents are caused by someone who cannot wait for a light to change, or who does not want to queue for a minute or two, or who does not bother to stop at a Stop sign, or who is speeding to win what amounts to a few seconds cut off their travel time.

The Highway Code is supposed to be a permanent guide to good driving, not something that we mug up the night before the test for a provisional licence and then throw away. If we all followed the rules then there would be no accidents. And if our journeys took an extra two or three minutes then so what. We would neither be killed not kill.