LUSAKA. 25.02.2020. The Zambia Road Safety Trust, the leading NGO for Road Safety, fully backs the Minister of Transport and Communications call for a Road Safety Conference targeting Bus Drivers.

This is a long-overdue road Safety action that should have happened many years ago.

We sincerely thank the Minister of Transport for his national political leadership and prioritizing Road Safety which is a concern to many people in our communities.

Bus operators and their drivers have been the main culprits in most of the traffic accidents that have brought misery and suffering to innocent people. This is because they have concentrated so much on their profits other than the Safety of passengers and their workers.

They are lacking the Safety culture that other private entities have as part of their core business.

ZRST thinks that if this Conference was called many years ago, many people killed would have been alive.

Among many important matters we urge the Minister to address some of our key concerns which are:

1.Driver fatigue or resting hours;
2.Technical condition of the vehicles;
3. Over speeding;
4. Safe loading of passengers and goods;
5.First Aid of how to minimize the impact for all involved in an accident.
6. In addition to the punishment of violations, the drivers should also be informed on dangers e.g. not wearing a seatbelt.
7.The increasing problem of distraction in traffic by the prohibited use of mobile phones and punishment.

Once again, ZRST thanks the Minister for this great initiative which we want to be fully part of./End