Passengers Association of Zimbabwe President, Mr Tafadzwa Goliath
By Godwin Makoho
Stakeholders in the transport industry have applauded government for introducing the speed limiting law under Statutory Instrument (SI) 118 of 2023 of Road Traffic Act, (Speed limiting and monitoring devices).
The SI mandates all public service vehicles to be installed with speed limit and monitoring technology, capping the maximum speed at 100 kilometres per hour, by August 1, 2023. Commercial trucks weighing at least 4,600 kilogrammes must also be fitted with speed limiters.
The move comes at a time when government is addressing challenges in the transport industry with reforms such as road construction and mantainance, driver training and licensing taking top priority.
Zimbabwe has over the past years experienced a series of fatal and serious accidents, with at least five people dying in road accidents daily, according to government estimates.
But investigations have revealed that speeding is one of the major contributors of these accidents, hence government has moved in to plug that hole.
In an interview with Newsreal Zimbabwe, Mr Tafadzwa Goliath, president of the Passengers Association of Zimbabwe (PAZ) welcomed the intervention and was happy that the law which his organisation, together with other stakeholders, had lobbied for was finally gazetted.
“It is encouraging for PAZ to note that our lobby interventions for policy intervention to reduce road carnage is bearing fruits, particularly with reference to the introduction of speed limit technology for public service buses,” he said.
“In 2020 PAZ made a petition to the Parliament of Zimbabwe calling for the introduction of Mandatory Speed Limiting Devices as part of a comprensive effort to adress Road Traffic Accidents in the country, targeting public service vehicles.
“We thus applaud Minister Felix Mhona and his Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure Development for the policy adoption that will see public service buses being restricted to a maximum speed of 100km/hour,” he added.
One of the Harare residents, Mr Matthew Chandaengerwa said although in the past police visibility on the roads has been good, more should be done in order to enforce this statutory instrument. He also noted the need to target all other vehicles which are in the business of transporting passengers.
“It’s really vital that the enforcement side is re-energized because human behavior will not respond to things like speed limits on their own and there will be those that will try to beat the system,” he said.
“We commend government for this intervention but leaving out the mushikashika and the rest still causes problems on the road. For instance, the Toyota Wish carries quite a lot of people at one time and they are one of the the fastest vehicles on the road as of now.”
Chandaengerwa also said there is need to equip the enforcement agencies so that they carry out their work unhindered.
“So we need to put in resources to get the police on the road and ensure that when they are on the road do their work without compromising,” he added.
Greater Harare Association of Commuter Omnibuses (GHACO) President, Mr Ngonidzashe Katsvairo highlighted that CHACO welcomed the decision by government to govern speed but suggested that government should create a stand alone speed regulating authority to ensure strict compliance.
“There is also need to have one company identified by the government to monitor the speed through tracking system rather than leaving this to individual companies, who in some cases are not reliable and credible,” said Katsvairo.
