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Police officers use a spike to stop a commuter omnibus that was picking passengers from an undesignated point along Jason Moyo Avenue in Harare yesterday. — (Picture by John Manzongo)

Herald Correspondent
THE Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe says some of the 2 000 pedestrians fatally hit by vehicles in the past three years and the 30 000 injured were at fault when hit.

Speaking during the Harare commemorations of the Pedestrain Safety Day on Thursday last week, TSCZ spokesperson Mr Ernest Muchena confirmed that pedestrians were careless on the roads.

“The law requires that a pedestrian should cross the road at a designated crossing point such as a pedestrian crossing and a traffic light controlled intersection to avoid being hit by a car,” he said.

“One should cross within the marked pedestrian crossing area and not anywhere outside the marked crossing path which results in jaywalking.”

Mr Muchena said TSCZ was also carrying out safety audits and liaising with stakeholders to check on the visibility of crossing points. He said pedestrians should take note of all traffic signs in the streets.

“For instance at the corner of Central Avenue and Sam Nujoma Street there is a traffic sign which instructs pedestrians not to cross at that particular point, which people always ignore,” Mr Muchena said.

“It is very unsafe for people to cross at that point as pedestrians will not be able to deal with traffic coming from four different angles and today we will go around educating pedestrians on the importance of using designated crossing points.”

Mr Muchena said pedestrians should not give reckless drivers unnecessary defence strategies.

“When a pedestrian uses undesignated crossing points depending on the circumstances, those are the situations where the driver may be found not guilty after injuring or killing a pedestrian,” he said.

“That person will be defined as a negligent pedestrian who chose to use an undesignated crossing point when 10 metres away there is a designated crossing point.”

Mr Muchena said law enforcers would soon find offence in pedestrians that cross the road at prohibited areas.

“There is a sign that prohibits pedestrians at any section of the road, so should the engineer place that sign which is in statutory instrument 4 (1) of 2016 then pedestrians found on that particular place should be on the wrong side of the law,” he said.

“It is fairly important for one to look and also listen carefully when crossing the road, use of phones and earphones by most pedestrians whilst crossing the road is prohibited as this is part of the negligence that can lead to serious hit and run cases on the streets.”

Crossing at undesignated points is prohibited in most parts of the world.

Recent statistics revealed that at least 2 000 pedestrians have died on Zimbabwe’s roads after being hit by vehicles in the last three years, while more than 30 000 were injured during the same period.