Rumbidzai Ngwenya
OVER 45 people have so far been killed in road accidents across the country since the beginning of Easter holidays.
This comes after two more people died after a Stallion Cruise bus that was travelling along Bulawayo-Victoria Falls highway was side swiped by a haulage truck in the early hours of yesterday leaving 14 injured.
Speaking to the Daily News yesterday, police said this year the country was likely to record one of the bloodiest Easter holidays ever.
“This Easter holiday is a bad one; we are seeing people dying every day on our roads and we are very concerned,” said national police spokesperson Paul Nyathi.
“Our biggest fear is that this year is going to be worse than last year considering that we already started the holiday with the Chimanimani horror crush that was dubbed a national disaster.”
Nyathi said most accidents were attributed to the excitement that came about with the easing of Covid-19 restrictions.
“As you can see, most people who have died so far are church congregants travelling to Easter church gatherings.
“For the past two years churches and gatherings were banned up until this year. So we see a lot of churches are travelling to different parts of the country for the Passover conferences.
“There is increased traffic, over excitement and at the same time we are seeing people not observing road safety rules.”
Meanwhile, Nyathi called on road users to change their approach on the roads.
“Road traffic accidents happen but it is usually known that on holidays more accidents are recorded. So we expect people and drivers to have a totally changed mind set and remember that holidays are not for over excitement.
“We urge people not to travel during holidays when it’s not necessary, and if they do to observe simple road rules. We have always said no to over speeding, no overloading, no drinking and driving and we have always urged people to avoid driving at night.
“The holidays are still going on and we are appealing to the nation to value life, the drivers to know that the lives of the passengers are in their hands and the passengers to resist from being associated with bad driving,” he said.
This comes after 38 people have died in an accident that happened in Chimanimani on Thursday night, when a bus that was ferrying Zimbabwe Christian Church (ZCC) members for a church gathering to Masvingo veered off the road and fell in a 70 meter deep gorge.
So far 10 people are still battling for their lives at Chipinge Hospital after sustaining severe injuries from the accident.
On Friday, four members of the Mugodhi church who were coming from a church service in Murewa, died after a vehicle they were travelling in was involved in an accident leaving 14 others injured along the Nyanga-Rwenya road.
On the same day, a minor was run over along Chiremba Road in Harare in a case of hit and run.