Hit and run traffic accidents worry police

Harare, (New Ziana) – The rising number of hit and run traffic accidents has become a cause for concern for the police as a 41-year-old man was struck and instantly killed by a vehicle at the 53km peg along the Rusape Nyanga road on Christmas eve, while a Mabvuku man escaped another road mishap with a fractured elbow and deep cut on the check.

In a statement, police national spokesman, assistant commissioner Paul Nyathi said law enforcement agents were concerned at the growing number of recorded road traffic accidents in which motorists ran over pedestrians in circumstances where the victims would be either just standing or walking alongside a road.

One of the victims is a 41-year-old man who died at the 53km peg along the Rusape Nyanga road after being struck by an unknown motorist who escaped the accident scene.

At the George Bus Stop in Mabvuku along the Harare-Mutare road, another unidentified motorist hit a 42-year-old man recently and sped off towards Harare. The victim suffered a fractured elbow and a deep cut on the check after which he was rushed to Parirenyatwa Group Hospitals for treatment.

In the past few days of the festive season, more than 20 people have been killed in road traffic accidents throughout the country, with the Zimbabwe Statistical Agency (ZimStat) blaming most of these on human error and poor roads.

Shockingly, a huge number of motorists found on the country’s roads are unlicensed, another contributory factor for the high vehicle road accidents.

ZimStat also reports that 604 people died in road traffic accidents in the third quarter – July to September – a 15 percent increase in fatalities compared to the same period the previous year when 400 fatalities were recorded. This is despite a 3.2 decrease in the number of accidents at 12 564 compared to the second quarter of this year.

According to statistics released by ZimStat, 8 897 people died in traffic accidents between 2019 and 2022. Approximately 2 079 people lost their lives in 52 585 road traffic accidents recorded last year alone.

New Ziana