The past eight weeks have been devastating, in terms of road accident cases registered across the country, raising questions about road safety in the country. RICHARD CHIROMBO, ESNART TEMBO and NELSON GONJANI write:
The first half of 2024 started rather on a good note, in terms of road accident cases.
This is reflected in indicators for the period January to June, when the Malawi Police Service (MPS) indicated that the number of people that died in road accidents dropped by 9 percent, when compared to the corresponding period in 2023.
Between January and June 2023, the number of people that succumbed to road accidents was pegged at 2,717.
During the corresponding period this year, MPS records indicate that 2,477 died in such accidents, marking a 9 percentage points decrease.
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MPS deputy spokesperson Harry Namwaza indicated that the majority of those affected by road accidents fell within the age range of 25 and 44.
“Within this six-month period, 1,444 individuals from this age group were involved in accidents, resulting in 228 fatalities.
“This age group has registered the highest number of cases because they are reckless when it comes to adhering to traffic rules and regulations,” Namwaza said.
However, there are indications that strides that were made during the first half of the year are fast being eroded.
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Just Thursday, five people died in an accident that occurred in Kasungu District.
Kasungu Police Station spokesperson Joseph Kachikho said the accident involved a vehicle, registration DA 10664.
The vehicle was being driven by Collings Mwale, who was coming from Mzimba heading towards Bua. He had six people on board.
“We suspect that the accident occurred when Phiri attempted to overtake another vehicle but due to speeding, he failed to control the vehicle, resulting in it overturning several times,” Kachikho said.
In another case Thursday, a truck and motorcycle were involved in an accident at Machinjiri Round-about in Blantyre.
Blantyre Police Station officials were still ascertaining particulars of those involved as we went to press.
Coincidentally, 26 people died in a road accident in Kasungu District last week.
On the day 26 people died in the Central Region district, four people died in Zomba in the Southern Region.
Thyolo is another district that has had its share of accidents, with eight people dying in a road accident this month.
Last month, one woman died in a road accident in Dedza District, Central Region.
Such developments have prompted MPS spokesperson Peter Kalaya to urge road users to exercise due diligence when using the country’s roads.
“It is the responsibility of every road user to comply with traffic laws.
“However, passengers sometimes contribute to accidents by encouraging drivers to break the law by, for example, exceeding passenger carrying capacity,” he indicated.
Kalaya also pointed out that it is not possible for the MPS to deploy traffic officers to all public roads of the country, such that they depend on the rest of the population to serve as their eyes and ears.
“Otherwise, we are doing everything possible to ensure that traffic laws are complied with. Our appeal to road users is that they must ensure that they are complying with road traffic laws,” Kalaya pleaded.
On his part, Drivers Association of Malawi President Booster Itika said there is a need to employ a holistic approach when looking at the issue.
He said, sometimes, the poor state of some of the country’s roads perpetuates the problem of road accidents.
“If the truth were to be told, most of our roads are in poor state. Some do not even have drainage systems, which compromises the security of road users,” Itika pointed out.
Whatever the case, the truth is that accidents have economic implications on Malawi.
The World Bank indicates that in Malawi, the estimated annual number of road traffic fatalities is 31 per 100,000 inhabitants.
However, this was the case in 2016, according to the Bretton Woods institution.
It indicates that road crash fatalities and injuries cost Malawi 10.3 percent of its gross domestic product that year, more than the Africa region average of 9.0 percent.
In a February 2023 report, titled ‘Investigating The Trend of Road Traffic Fatalities in Malawi Using Mann- Kendall Statistic’, Gibson Mpokonyoka Ngwira, Benjamin Bolaane and Bhagabat P. Parida show that road accidents are an issue of concern in Malawi.
“Fatalities due to road accidents remain a major challenge worldwide. In the recent years, Malawi, one of the developing African countries with a total population of about 19 million, has also been witnessing a very high fatality rate compared to most of its neighbours in the region. This seems to be continuously increasing even with several intervention measures, such as speed and alcohol impairment laws, and laws for mandatory seatbelt and helmet use,” it says.
Surely, these figures do not give a good impression of Malawi.
