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The King Lion bus that was involved in an accident

Zimbabwe was last Wednesday night plunged into mourning when 43 people were killed in a bus accident in Hurungwe, Mashonaland West province. The Zambian- bound King Lion bus rammed into a tree in the Nyamakate area in Hurungwe killing 43 people on the spot and injuring 30 others.

The President Cde Mugabe on Friday declared the horrific bus accident a state of disaster. The driver of the bus who is among those killed in the accident, lost control of the vehicle at the 257km peg near Nyamakate shops around 10pm.  According to survivors of the accident, the driver was speeding.

Last April 31 people were killed when a South Africa-bound bus was sideswiped by a haulage truck at Nyamatikiti River near Chaka business centre in Chirumanzu, Midlands province.

According to statistics 80 percent of road traffic accidents in Zimbabwe are as a result of human error which means they can be avoided.

Following last week’s accident, Zimbabweans have called on the Government to stop night driving for long distance buses.

An average of 1 700 people are killed on Zimbabwean roads annually while 30 000 others are injured. The statistics are very frightening and something should be done urgently to reduce the carnage on our roads. We therefore want to commend the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development for proposing the establishment of a fund to assist accident victims and their families.

The establishment of the fund to be known as the Motor Vehicle Accident Fund, is in line with the United Nations Decade of Road Safety action plan. Addressing stakeholders at a consultative meeting to seek people’s views on the proposed fund, the Transport and Infrastructural Development Deputy Minister Engineer Michael Madanha said Zimbabwe was one of the few Sadc countries yet to establish such a fund.

Eng Madanha said it was important to consult widely before introducing the fund. He said Government noted with concern challenges that arise in the post-crash phase. He said these include delays in securing rescue ambulance services and challenges related to getting the injured admitted to hospital. Eng Madanha said it should be appreciated that emergency medical service organisations need to recover costs for them to remain operational.

The Deputy Minister said because most people involved in accidents had no medical insurance, there was some hesitation by emergency rescue service providers and medical fraternity to respond to accidents as fast as they should.

He said if payment for such services is guaranteed, the service providers will respond fast to accidents and save many lives. The establishment of the accident fund, in our view, is long overdue given that many Sadc countries already have such a fund in place.

Emergency rescue service providers and medical fraternity as rightly noted by Eng Madanha, should be guaranteed payment to enable them to swiftly respond to distress calls and treat the injured. The fund apart from paying for such services, would assist families of accident victims.

Most of the people being killed in road accidents are breadwinners and their families need to be assisted financially. There are many cases of people injured in accidents who have died after failing to raise money to undergo specialist treatment.

We want at this juncture to implore the Transport Ministry to fast-track the process of establishing this fund meant to alleviate the suffering of accidents victims and their families. The fund could also help equip our Emergency Rescue Service Providers to enable them to swiftly respond to distress calls and save lives.