Road traffic accidents drain public resources: Zambian VP

Zambian Vice-President Inonge Wina said on Thursday that road traffic accidents were a drain on public resources and that there was need to find lasing solutions to deal with the problem.

The Zambian vice-president said the governments spent about 4 billion Zambian Kwacha (about 760,000 U.S. dollars) on road accident-related expenditures last year, adding that this has been a costly undertaking and a drain on the country's limited resources.

In remarks delivered during a national conference on road safety in Lusaka, the country's capital, the Zambian vice-president said the government was concerned with the rising frequency of road fatalities and urged stakeholders to come up with lasting solutions.

There was need for enhanced road safety in order to reduce deaths on the country's roads, she added.

According to her, the government was concerned that corruption had eroded safety on the roads as defective vehicles were being allowed to move freely.

Misheck Lungu, Ministry of Transport and Communication Permanent Secretary, said during the same occasion that the government will soon put in place a law to regulate driving in the night.

The conference has been organized by the country's road safety agency following an increase in road traffic accidents in the country, especially involving public vehicles.

Last week, 25 people died while 48 others sustained injuries when a bus lost control in the northern part of the country. Endit