Ministry of Transport and Communications Statement on Scorpion bus accident
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Issued by: HON. MUTOTWE KAFWAYA. MP
MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS
MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATIONS STATEMENT ON SCORPION BUS ACCIDENT
LUSAKA, 4th March 2020- Government through the Ministry of Transport and Communications, wishes to convey heartfelt condolences to the families of the people that died in the road traffic accident along the Kabwe – Kapiri Mposhi Road in Central Province yesterday.
Three people died in a fatal road accident which happened around 15:45 hours yesterday, when the driver of a Scorpion Bus registration number AIC132, Francis Namakube, careered off the road and overturned after wrongly overtaking a number of vehicles and avoiding a head-on collision with an oncoming vehicle.
PF Lunte MP Mutotwe Katwaya is Transport and Communications Minister – Picture Caesar Edward Sindele
Preliminary accident investigations conducted by the Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA), have revealed that the driver of the bus was over-speeding as evidenced by the fact that he wrongly overtook several vehicles and careered off the road and overturned.
The Government is concerned with the conduct of the driver and is of the view that the driver acted negligently, violated the driver’s duty of reasonable care and demonstrated to be a danger to the public. Such behaviour worries Government in its quest to consider lifting Statutory Instrument (SI) No.76 which restricts the movement of buses at night to avoid loss of lives.
It is equally of great concern that bus operators are not doing much to monitor the behaviour of drivers by implementing the Road Safety Fleet Management Policy that requires the installation of the Global Positioning System (GPS) and driver training in Road Safety Rules and Regulations.
As Government, we cannot condone losing lives in such a manner due to bus operators and drivers negligence.
I am, therefore, directing RTSA to ensure that all bus operators implement the Road Safety fleet Management Policy of 2017 which is underpinned by the following five (5) factors namely:
(i) Driver Management
(ii) Vehicle Management
(iii) Journey Management (including installation of the Global Positioning System – GPS)
(iv) Health and Safety at the Workplace; and
(v) Organisational Management.
Further, RTSA is directed to ensure that all long-distance buses are fitted with GPS with immediate effect. RTSA should enforce the Road Safety Fleet Management Policy and the GPS without fail.
