New road safety measures hailed

Sat, 10 Feb 2018 12:26:26 +0000

By CHIKUMBI KATEBE and CHITE MTONGA

THE Zambia Road Safety Trust (ZRST) has commended government for the introduction of new technology to enhance road safety in the country.

ZRST chairman Daniel Mwamba told the Daily Nation that government through the Ministry of Transport and Communications and the Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) was delighted with the lifesaving initiative which was launched on Wednesday.

Minister of Transport and Communications Brian Mushimba on Wednesday in Lusaka officially launched the new legacy project, Road Safety Management System which is an effort to reduce road accidents in the country.

The project is expected to improve the operations of the RTSA and accelerate government goals to meeting the UN decade of action 2020 which aims to cut accidents by 50 percent.

And Mr Mwamba said the ZRST welcomed all initiatives, and in particular the setup of a traffic management centre to manage the overall process and to facilitate post-crash response.

He said the reduction of traffic officers on the roads was also exciting as corrupt officers were counterproductive towards the fight for road safety.

Mr Mwamba said the current road safety situation constituted a crisis with devastating social and economic impacts that threatened the recent health and development gains that have been achieved

Many people are coping with the death or disability of family members from road traffic injury,” Mr Mwamba said.

Mr Mwamba said road safety was a complex issue and as such it needed to be treated meticulously.

And RTSA says a concession agreement with Intelligent Mobile Solutions (IMS) anticipates increased investment into advanced road safety solutions in the country.

RTSA spokesperson Frederick Mubanga told the Daily Nation in a statement that the investment expected to cover a period of 17 years should improve implementation of the agency’s mandate in ensuring road safety.

Mr. Mushimba earlier in the week launched the Road Safety Management System worth US$500 million programme aimed at advanced solutions to traffic management at national level.