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Obey Sibanda
Police details manning roadblocks in Zimbabwe have become a target for criticism from the public who are accusing them of not performing their duties properly resulting in an increase in road accidents.

This is also worsened by the influx of young and inexperienced drivers who drive public passenger vehicles and the laxity by the traffic police in weeding out these youngsters.

A number of the fatal accidents are a result of speeding, inexperience and immaturity on the part of the drivers. It is a natural psyche of any young driver to want to excel. Given an opportunity, a young driver is determined to speed, neglecting the obvious that the roads are shared with other road users.

According to experts, public service vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death and serious injury on the roads.

“Speed coupled with immaturity, the consequence is fatal accidents. High speed increases the collision rate and the ability to judge the forthcoming events also gets reduced and the vehicle needs greater distance to come to a halt.

“Young drivers are eager to drive and are over-represented in road crashes with a higher per-mile collision rate than the older drivers and these crashes also impose an enormous cost to society and the government,” an expert said.

The Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe (TSCZ) states that a public service vehicle driver must be 25 years old and below 71 years. The driver must have five years prior driving experience before being permitted to drive a public service vehicle. This means that anyone who first obtained his drivers licence after July 2010 cannot be seen driving a public service vehicle on any road in Zimbabwe now. Any driver who does not meet the requirements for driving a public service vehicle must not attempt to drive such a vehicle. They risk being arrested or worse still contibute to the carnage on the roads.

Despite the heavy presence of traffic police officers on the roads and the existence of regulations, young public service vehicle drivers continue to flout road rules and regulations.

From the public perspective these police officers have become a liability rather than an asset by failing to execute their duties properly. They blame the police and the courts for letting down commuters by merely paying lip service to the cause by letting the offenders go scotfree and failing to pass stiffer penalties as a deterrent to would-be offenders.

“We’ve seen a high prevalence of kombi accidents but I blame the police and the law for not doing much to protect commuters. We appreciate that the roads need to be monitored for security but the police are becoming a problem instead of a solution. There are many roadblocks on our roads but surprisingly there is an increase in the number of youths driving commuter omnibuses and one wonders how they manage to pass through all the roadblocks,” said Khulekani Ndlovu.

Agrippa Maziwa from Pumula North who survived a horrific car crash in December last year concurred with Ndlovu.

“The penalties under traffic laws aren’t deterrent enough to traffic offenders especially when one considers that cattle rustling or elephant poaching carries a heavier sentence compared to a sentence given to a young person driving a commuter omnibus sometimes even without a licence risking innocent lives. We’ve seen such drivers on several occasions made to pay just a fine for their liberation and allowed to proceed.”

Nkululeko Moyo is of the view that the police must just enforce the law by arresting underage drivers.

“Driving a public service vehicle needs more responsibility on the part of the driver than an ordinary vehicle. The requirements weren’t just put in place but are there to serve a purpose. Accidents are unforeseen occurrences, it needs experienced hands and maturity of the driver to guard against such,” said Moyo.

Transport and Infrastructure Development Minister Obert Mpofu once said the government was reviewing the Highway Code to raise the minimum age requirement for public transport drivers from 25 years to 35 years.

The move, designed to curb accidents on the country’s roads, will also see the government tightly monitoring the operations of driving schools.

He told Chronicle that the review was a response to the spate of accidents, which he said were caused by human error and often involved young drivers.

“A lot of people are killed in accidents because of human error. The problem is that operators employ unqualified drivers and we wonder why they’re doing that. We would rather have public service drivers aged 35 and above. This is because most accidents involve young drivers in their 20s,” said the minister.

The aim of the law is basically to provide relief and ensure protection for commuters, as well as long term measures for prevention of accidents but this has failed to put an end to the problem.

A traffic police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity said they are supposed to arrest underage public service vehicle drivers, impound the vehicle and the passengers refunded the fare for the whole journey.

“As traffic police, our duty is to enforce the public service vehicle drivers’ regulations and educate the public, drivers and transporters on the specifications of public service vehicles.

“It’s a criminal offence for one to drive a public service vehicle while he’s under 25 years. We’re supposed to impound the vehicle, refund passengers their fare and we call the owner, but because we need the money and the law is somehow handicapped we take advantage of the situation and the driver is fined and we let him go,” said the policeman.

Bulawayo United Passenger Transporters Association (BUPTA) secretary-general Albert Ncube said they have a problem with young drivers and they are weeding them out for the safety of commuters.

“As an association, we’re weeding out underage drivers and we’ve created a database of qualified drivers. We verify the driver with the Vehicle Theft Squad (VTS) before we give them employment. We also educate the vehicle owners on the drivers’ selection,” said Ncube.

When the traffic law was enacted prohibiting those under 25 years from driving a public service vehicle, it was hailed as a milestone to provide maximum protection and relief to commuters. However, the landmark law seems not to have served its purpose.

Chapter 13:11, Section 7 of the Road Traffic Act states that no person under the age of 25 years shall drive an omnibus or a commuter omnibus on a road. However, the Act has come under the spotlight for having gray areas.

A magistrate who declined to be named for professional reasons said as it stands it is not an offence for one to drive a public service vehicle when he is under 25 years because the Act is naked as there is no penalty provision.

“Breaking the law is theoretical as the Traffic Act simply criminalises the conduct but doesn’t penalise it. The police officers manning roadblocks are not supposed to arrest these young drivers because by so doing they’ll be going against the law. These drivers are not even supposed to pay a fine.

“If one is arrested and brought to court, the magistrate will be forced to order the state to withdraw the charges because his hands are tied,” said the magistrate.

A High Court judge in 2008 set aside the conviction and sentence of a then 23-year-old Fradreck Mbaso who had been convicted and fined Z$20,000 and had his driver’s licence cancelled for driving a public service vehicle when he was under the age of 25.

He drove a commuter omnibus with 12 passengers along Harare-Nyamapanda Road and was arrested at a roadblock in Murewa. His certificate of competence and his national identity document showed that he was 23 years old at the time.

The trial magistrate referred the case to the High Court because he felt Mbaso had been wrongly charged and the superior court agreed with him.