The main concern for Zimbabwe’s driving instructors is not teaching the highway code to their students. It’s ensuring they “survive some of the world’s deadliest roads,” said The Associated Press.
In 2024, the country recorded more than 2,000 deaths from road traffic accidents and more than 10,000 injuries, according to the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe. African roads have the “world’s highest fatality rate at 26.6 deaths per 100,000 people, compared with a global average of about 18,” said the AP. And Zimbabwe has one of the highest rates on the continent, with nearly 30 deaths per 100,000 people.
Drivers in Zimbabwe are used to a “pothole-riddled reality,” Tendai Ruben Mbofana said in The Zimbabwean. In some places, “years of underfunding, corruption” and “weak maintenance cultures” have left roads “resembling post-conflict zones.”
Zimbabwe was once known for “orderly traffic and well-kept roads,” but its network has “deteriorated since the 2000s,” said the AP. A series of economic crises has taken its toll on road infrastructure, while “weakened” law enforcement has led to “traffic chaos.”
Transport minister Felix Mhona told the country’s Senate that over 90% of road accidents are attributable to human error, said The Herald. To promote road safety, Zimbabwe’s police have begun using body cameras and breathalyzers, and they want to improve driver training programs, raise public awareness of reckless driving and beef up traffic enforcement.
New road safety policies have been introduced, but their enforcement is “strikingly inadequate,” said the AP. Inconsistent action by the authorities has led to drivers and passengers feeling “empowered to flout safety rules without fear of consequence.” | 
