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Victor Maphosa Herald Correspondent

A special United Nations (UN) envoy for Road Safety will be visiting Zimbabwe next week to review and assess the country’s performance on road safety.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the United Nations Commission for Europe (UNCE) envoy will undertake the review as from July 29 to 31.

The Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe director Mr Obio Chinyere confirmed the visit during a pre-review plenary meeting held in Harare on Sunday.

He commended the visit, saying it brings a lot of positives to the country in as far as road safety issues are concerned.

“We will have a UN Special Envoy for Road Safety in our country from July 29 to July 31 for a review on our performance on road safety issues,” said Mr Chinyere.

“The visit has many advantages to us, for instance we will be able to benchmark ourselves as a country with other countries, and they will also bring that experience from other countries, which is helpful. So, at the end of the day, as a country we are going to benefit.

“The envoy will do a performance review in terms of road safety. They are going to look at all the aspects of road safety. We also need that experience that they have, which we believe will benefit the country.”

Mr Chinyere said road safety was anchored on five pillars and the envoy will also look at those pillars and ascertain the areas which need improvement.

“The envoy will look at the five pillars which the road safety is anchored on and they will give recommendations on their findings, and it will be up to us to decide on the course of action concerning their recommendations,” he said.

According to the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe (TSCZ), $460 million is spent annually on road traffic accidents, with an average of 40 000 accidents recorded in the country every year.

TSCZ said at least 15 000 people are injured and almost 2 000 killed every year in road traffic accidents.

A comparative analysis done by TSCZ reveals that there has been an increase in fatal road traffic accidents since 2016.

In 2018, a total of 1 517 fatal road traffic accidents were recorded compared to 1 325 recorded in 2016.

The TSCZ said nearly 90 percent of the incidents were attributed to human error, which includes speeding, misjudgement, drinking and driving and recklessness on the roads.