We expect our roads to get busier from tomorrow when boarders return from schools countrywide to their homes for the holiday and people travel for the Easter break.
Like the Christmas and New Year holiday, the high traffic volume contributes to the more accidents on our roads, killing and injuring people.
As we do every year, we pray and call for safer road use that limits accidents, injury and death. This is a very important matter for us as any that is a matter of life and death. Last year 10 people died in road accidents during the Easter holiday down from 19 who died over the corresponding period in 2014. It was a 90 percent decline, but one death is too many for us.
Schools will close tomorrow and for boarders that will mark a mass movement to their homes for the first holiday of the year. On Thursday ordinary people will, as is the norm, begin the trek to their rural homes or holiday destinations across the country where they will spend their Easter until Easter Monday when they return home. Christians go on pilgrimages to places of worship during a holiday dedicated to mark the suffering, crucifixion of Jesus Christ on Good Friday and His rise from death on Sunday.
As a result, road traffic will increase sharply from tomorrow to Monday next week.
Unlike previous years, it is a different situation this year as the increased traffic would be complicated with tricky road conditions amid the prevailing heavy rains.
We advise motorists to always value life. They must avoid attitudes and actions that potentially cause accidents.
Private motorists or those driving public service vehicles must ensure that their vehicles are well serviced and roadworthy.
Every car is inherently a hazard whenever it is being driven on the road, but a jalopy on the road is worse. A vehicle that has worn out tyres, that has poor wipers, malfunctioning lights, a sloppy braking system and so on must not be driven on the roads until it is fixed.
But in the hands of a bad driver, the most roadworthy car can be as dangerous as a rattletrap. Therefore a driver should be in the right mental state, one who is sober, is licensed to handle it and is of the right attitude and frame of mind.
Drivers need to obey road rules by adhering to the stipulated speed limits, avoiding overtaking at prohibited areas and rest when they feel they are too tired to continue driving.
The same message of safe road use must go to passengers and pedestrians as well. They contribute, though on a much smaller scale, to the accidents that happen on our roads. Passengers need not incite drivers to break road rules and should avoid excessive drinking. Pedestrians should walk in designated zones and, if they decide to walk at night, strive to wear white clothes or any clothing items that make it easy for drivers to spot them.
There is a heavier police presence on the roads as officers enforce the law. Officials from the vehicle inspection depot have been deployed as well to check vehicle defects and take corrective action. The TSCZ are playing their educative role.
However, the best policing is that which is undertaken by the individual himself or herself. Our people must obey the law even when they know there is no one watching them, for police and other law enforcement agents are not omnipresent.
We look forward to a happy and safe Easter Holiday for all travellers.
© Chronicle
Like the Christmas and New Year holiday, the high traffic volume contributes to the more accidents on our roads, killing and injuring people.
As we do every year, we pray and call for safer road use that limits accidents, injury and death. This is a very important matter for us as any that is a matter of life and death. Last year 10 people died in road accidents during the Easter holiday down from 19 who died over the corresponding period in 2014. It was a 90 percent decline, but one death is too many for us.
Schools will close tomorrow and for boarders that will mark a mass movement to their homes for the first holiday of the year. On Thursday ordinary people will, as is the norm, begin the trek to their rural homes or holiday destinations across the country where they will spend their Easter until Easter Monday when they return home. Christians go on pilgrimages to places of worship during a holiday dedicated to mark the suffering, crucifixion of Jesus Christ on Good Friday and His rise from death on Sunday.
As a result, road traffic will increase sharply from tomorrow to Monday next week.
Unlike previous years, it is a different situation this year as the increased traffic would be complicated with tricky road conditions amid the prevailing heavy rains.
We advise motorists to always value life. They must avoid attitudes and actions that potentially cause accidents.
Private motorists or those driving public service vehicles must ensure that their vehicles are well serviced and roadworthy.
Every car is inherently a hazard whenever it is being driven on the road, but a jalopy on the road is worse. A vehicle that has worn out tyres, that has poor wipers, malfunctioning lights, a sloppy braking system and so on must not be driven on the roads until it is fixed.
But in the hands of a bad driver, the most roadworthy car can be as dangerous as a rattletrap. Therefore a driver should be in the right mental state, one who is sober, is licensed to handle it and is of the right attitude and frame of mind.
Drivers need to obey road rules by adhering to the stipulated speed limits, avoiding overtaking at prohibited areas and rest when they feel they are too tired to continue driving.
The same message of safe road use must go to passengers and pedestrians as well. They contribute, though on a much smaller scale, to the accidents that happen on our roads. Passengers need not incite drivers to break road rules and should avoid excessive drinking. Pedestrians should walk in designated zones and, if they decide to walk at night, strive to wear white clothes or any clothing items that make it easy for drivers to spot them.
There is a heavier police presence on the roads as officers enforce the law. Officials from the vehicle inspection depot have been deployed as well to check vehicle defects and take corrective action. The TSCZ are playing their educative role.
However, the best policing is that which is undertaken by the individual himself or herself. Our people must obey the law even when they know there is no one watching them, for police and other law enforcement agents are not omnipresent.
We look forward to a happy and safe Easter Holiday for all travellers.
© Chronicle
