Date: 9 May 2026 Ref: ZRST/PR/009/2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Two crashes. Two universities. Six days. Five young lives lost. And Zambia still doesn’t count them as a distinct group.
The Zambia Road Safety Trust confirms that five university students have died and six others are seriously injured following two separate single-vehicle crashes within a six-day period, both caused by excessive speed in the early morning hours.
Mulungushi University, Sunday, 3 May 2026
At approximately 03:30 hours, a Mercedes-Benz C200 carrying six Mulungushi University students overturned on the Great North Road near Mulungushi Bridge after the driver lost control due to excessive speed. Three students died: Mukuka Chanda (driver, third-year), Felix Luther (third-year), and Mwangula Kabwe (24, fourth-year). Three others, Willard Phiri (24), Ashford Soko (24), and Chongo Mutembula (24), sustained serious injuries and were admitted to Kabwe Central Hospital.
University of Lusaka, Friday, 9 May 2026
At approximately 05:00 hours, a Honda Fit driven by Patrick Musonda (22), a UNILUS student, failed to negotiate a curve on Chalimbana Road in Silverest due to excessive speed, crashed into a tree, and extensively damaged the vehicle’s front section. Two students died: Edify Chikumbi (22-26) and Maseka Chilapala (20-25). Three others are seriously injured: driver Patrick Musonda, Akufuna Mwituna (21), and John Msenge, all admitted to Levy Mwanawasa University Teaching Hospital. All five occupants were UNILUS students (Zambia Police Service statement, 9 May 2026).
ZRST extends condolences to the families, friends, and university communities of Mulungushi and UNILUS.
Both crashes share identical risk factors: excessive speed (preliminary police finding in both cases), early morning hours (03:30-04:00 and 05:00), single-vehicle loss of control (curve negotiation failure, rollover or tree impact), student drivers and passengers (all 11 occupants across both crashes were university students), and high-risk road geometry (curves on rural or peri-urban corridors).
But here is what we cannot tell you: How many other 18-25 year-olds died on Zambian roads this week. Or this month. Or this year. The data does not exist.
Zambia Police Service and the Road Transport and Safety Agency publish crash statistics disaggregated by age only for children 0-16 years. At age 17, young people disappear into a single adult category spanning teenagers to pensioners.
This means: no tracking of 17-25 year-old road death rates, globally the highest-risk age group. No measurement of student over-representation in crashes. No evidence base for young driver interventions. No ability to assess whether university safety programmes work.
The World Health Organization states that road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death globally for people aged 5-29. Zambia treats this age group as a statistical black hole.
After these two crashes, ZRST attempted to establish baseline context:
How many 18-25 year-olds died in road crashes in 2024? Data does not exist.
What proportion of fatal crashes involve student drivers or passengers? Data does not exist.
Are 03:00-06:00 hour crashes over-represented among young adults? Data cannot be disaggregated.
Do university catchment areas show elevated crash risk during term time? Cannot be measured. We are designing road safety policy for young Zambians in the dark.
Zambia recorded 681 road deaths in Q1 2026, a 36.7% increase over Q1 2025. If this trend continues, 2026 will exceed 3,000 fatalities.
Globally, the 15-24 age group accounts for approximately 25% of road deaths (WHO). If Zambia follows this pattern, that suggests 675 or more young adults killed annually. But we don’t know, because Zambia doesn’t count them separately.
Five university students have died in six days. How many other young Zambians died on the road this week? We cannot tell you. The system does not track it. This is not a data gap. This is policy negligence.
1. Age-Disaggregated Crash Data
ZPS and RTSA must publish crash casualty data in the following age bands: 0-4, 5-9, 10-14, 15-17, 18-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64, 65+. This aligns with WHO Safe System standards and requires only one additional column on existing crash report forms. No excuse for delay.
2. Student Status Flag
Crash investigation forms should include Student (Y/N) and institution name for casualties aged 16-30. This allows universities to track campus-area risk and be notified when students are involved in crashes.
3. Retroactive Analysis
ZPS and RTSA should conduct a retrospective review of 2024-2025 crash records to extract age-disaggregated data from existing case files, even if not tabulated at the time.
4. Public Data Dashboard
Age-disaggregated crash data must be published quarterly on the RTSA website in machine-readable format (CSV/Excel), not buried in annual PDF reports.
RTSA and RDA should conduct iRAP-style safety ratings for corridors within 5km of major university campuses. Priority sites: Great North Road (Mulungushi Bridge area, Kabwe) and Chalimbana Road (Silverest section, Chongwe). These are now confirmed high-risk student corridors.
Every Zambian university should integrate a minimum 90-minute road safety session into first-year orientation covering speed and stopping distance, curve negotiation physics, alcohol and fatigue impairment, night and early-morning risk, passenger responsibility, and rural road hazards. ZRST has curriculum materials available.
UNZA SRC, Mulungushi SU, UNILUS student bodies, and other student unions must drive cultural change around speeding, racing, and vehicle overloading. A student who tells a friend to slow down at 04:00 is not overreacting. That student may be preventing the next crash.
Parents providing vehicles to students must understand: the driver is responsible for every passenger’s safety. Excessive speed, 03:00-05:00 driving without clear necessity, and overloading are not negotiable.
Zambia Police Traffic Division should establish predictable, visible speed enforcement on roads serving university campuses, particularly Friday and Saturday nights and early Sunday mornings when student social travel peaks.
ZRST is formally requesting urgent meetings with:
Ministry of Transport and Logistics: Policy directive mandating age-disaggregated crash data
RTSA Executive Director: 30-day implementation timeline for data system changes
Zambia Police Service: Crash report form revision, officer training on student flag
Ministry of Higher Education: Framework for university road safety integration
Vice Chancellors (UNZA, CBU, Mulungushi, UNILUS, Copperbelt University, others): Campus safety audit programme and mandatory orientation modules
Student Representative Councils: Co-design of peer-led safety campaigns
This will not be the last time ZRST comments on a university student crash. But the next time, we should be able to say: This is the seventh student death this quarter, compared to four in Q2 2025, a 75% increase.
Issued by:
ZRST
Zambia Road Safety Trust | 10 Mulundu Street, Woodlands, Lusaka | RNGO 101/0503/2015
info@zambianroadsafety.org | +260 961 475 610 | www.zambianroadsafety.org