The Directorate of Road Traffic and Safety Services (DRTSS) has said it will investigate the bus accident that occurred in Mzuzu last week after it transpired that the driver has no driver’s licence.
The accident left seven people dead.
DRTSS acting Director, Fergus Gondwe, confirmed that the driver of the passenger OB Bus Service bus, Yona Pundi, does not have a driver’s license; hence, the investigation.
The driver of the overloaded and speeding bus, which was travelling from Mpherembe in Mzimba to Mzuzu, is said to have used the township route to avoid traffic police officers who had mounted a road block on the M1 Road.
“We have checked in our system and his name is not appearing anywhere in the system. Why should the whole bus operator that runs in millions use a driver without a license? We are still following [up on] the matter but we are just waiting [for new developments] because I am told the driver, who is in hospital, has a collar bone fracture,” Gondwe said.
He said, in the wake of rising cases of road accidents, the Directorate and traffic police met in June this year to come up with workable interventions.
The meeting, among other things, identified gaps in road transport legislations and suggested action that should be taken to address the gaps.
Gondwe said it was agreed that immediate actions should be jointly taken to intensify public awareness and traffic law enforcement across the country.
Most of the road accidents in the country are attributed to over-speeding, drink reckless driving, careless overtaking, ignoring road signs, fatigue and overloading, with crimes related to over-speeding crimes accounting for 58 percent of accidents that occur in the country.
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