Zimpapers Logo

Whinsley Masara, Chronicle Reporter
THE Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe (TSCZ) has embarked on an aggressive marketing drive to ensure that every motorist undergoes Defensive Driving.

This comes after realisation that more than 94 percent of road deaths in Zimbabwe are due to driving errors, which can be corrected by training and retraining.

TSCZ spokesperson Mr Tatenda Chinoda said: “The aim of the course is to humanise driving by developing a holistic driver in terms of the affective (emotional), cognitive (thinking) and psychomotor (skills) domains. Most drivers simply train in skills domain leaving the much needed affective and cognitive domains which underscore the need for courtesy, consideration and ubuntu /hunhu whenever interacting with other road users,” he said.

Mr Chinoda said only Public Service Vehicle (PSV) drivers were required by law to have Defensive Driving Certificates.

“The law S.I. 168 of 2006 makes it mandatory for Public Service Vehicle (PSV) drivers to have valid Defensive Driving Certificate amongst other requirements.

“We have about  three million drivers in Zimbabwe and the population of PSV drivers is estimated at less than 400 000. This means that less than a quarter of our drivers are trained in defensive driving yet the majority of our drivers are private drivers: those who drive their private vehicles. These private drivers are of the view that Defensive Driving is meant for PSV drivers only,” he said.

Mr Chinoda said the purpose of Defensive Driving is to train drivers to drive to stay alive on the roads by preventing avoidable road accidents.

“If we are serious about stopping road traffic deaths, injuries and property damage, everyone must play their part. We must stop this blame game forthwith.

“According to the TSCZ 2016 road traffic crash analysis report, more private vehicles drivers are being involved in fatal crashes than public vehicles. As such, it pays if all our drivers are trained in defensive driving,” he said.

TSCZ is visiting churches and public gatherings spreading the need for every motorist to be trained in defensive driving.

“When a road traffic accident happens, people’s reasoning is sometimes overtaken by emotion and hence we miss the requisite road safety reality checks. We are quick to blame the roads, other traffic, the vehicles, stray animals and other things. Every driver must be trained in defensive driving,” said Mr Chinoda.

@winnie_masara