MATHEWS NDANDULA WRITES
@SunZambian
CHILD road safety requires the support of all stakeholders to protect citizens from untimely death, Minister of Transport and Communications Mutotwe Kafwaya has said.Speaking at the launch of the installation of 30km/h speed signs in Lusaka recently, the minister thanked the Zambia Road Safety trust, FedEX and Amend for spearheading the projects that will see road signs erected at 10 schools.According to United Nations, through the World Health Organisation (WHO), road traffic accidents (RTAs) have been identified as a global challenge and further predict that road traffic accidents will be fifth most common cause of death by 2030.Mr Kafwaya has called on motorists be mindful of their speed while on the road if the incidents of RTAs are to reduce.Speaking at the same event, Road Transport and safety agency (RTSA) chief executive officer Gladwell Banda said his organisation will ensure that children’s awareness of road safety starts from an early age that will also guide them on how to behave while on the road.He said RTSA will enhance strict driving tests so that road safety is never compromised as a result of a driver‘s error.“We will continue educating drivers through workshops and awareness programs regularly on how to use the road and let others use it safely,” he said.And Zambia Road Safety Trust general secretary Edward Phiri thanked Government’ s for the commitment demonstrated in making the roads safer for all school children walking to and from school and other road users in the city of Lusaka.
“Zambia Road Safety Trust is involved in various road safety activities such as child road safety education programmers and construction of simple safe road safety infrastructure improvement for primary schools which has been recognised internationally and implemented in other African countries. So far we have constructed simple road safety infrastructures around 6 primary schools in Lusaka in partnership with various international and local stakeholders such as Fedex,” said Mr Phiri.
