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Herald Reporters—
Commuter omnibus drivers must take defensive driving seriously to reduce road carnage and ensure passenger safety, a senior Government official has said. Secretary for Transport and Infrastructural Development Mr Munesushe Munodawafa said this in a speech read on his behalf by the ministry’s principal director Engineer Mufaro Gumbie at a ceremony to hand over defensive driving certificates to 49 kombi drivers in the capital yesterday.

“A defensive driver anticipates traffic situations and prevents accident in spite of the incorrect actions of others or the presence of adverse driving conditions.”

The Traffic Safety Council and the Automobile Association of Zimbabwe early this month received a US$5 000 grant from the Federation of International Associations to train 100 commuter omnibus drivers in defensive driving. Mr Munodawafa said the training sought to improve commuter omnibus driving standards and passenger safety on the country’s roads.

He said plans by the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe to conduct research to analyse road traffic accidents involving public transport vehicles in Harare from November this year to January 2014 would assist the country to draw up intervention measures.

FIA president Mr Thierry Willermarck of Belgium said it was important to promote safe driving standards and passenger safety in Zimbabwe to save lives.

“We are certain that, with the knowledge you acquired on this course, the result will be safer drivers and a better experience for everyone using the roads in Zimbabwe,” he said.

Official figures show that a total of 2 094 deaths and 14 965 injuries were recorded last year in 30 911 road traffic accidents in Zimbabwe.
According to the World Health Organisation 2011 report, more than 1,2 million people are killed and more than 50 million are injured annually in road accidents.