Zimbabwe’s driving crisis

The main concern for Zimbabwe’s driving instructors is not teaching the highway code to their students but making sure 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. Africa as a whole has the “world’s highest fatality rate at 26.6 deaths per 100,000 people, compared with a global average of about 18”, said AP. And Zimbabwe has one of the highest rates – nearly 30 deaths per 100,000 people – within Africa.

‘Pothole-riddled reality’

Zimbabwe was once known for “orderly traffic and well kept roads” but its network has “deteriorated since the 2000s”. A series of economic crises has taken its toll on road infrastructure, while “weakened” enforcement of maintenance has led to “traffic chaos”.

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Despite attempts to bolster police presence on the roads, “dangerous driving remains deeply entrenched”. Transport minister Felix Mhona told the country’s Senate that over 90% of road accidents are attributable to human error, said The Herald.

Deaths, injuries and damage from road traffic accidents constitute a “devastating and predictable public health disaster”. Such is the scale of the problem that motorists have been “holding prayers at blackspots”, looking for “divine intervention to tame the carnage” and to ward off “avenging spirits”, said News Day.

When Nigerian newspaper Vanguard recently placed Zimbabwe in the top 10 of the best road networks in Africa, “many Zimbabweans laughed in disbelief”, said Tendai Ruben Mbofana in The Zimbabwean. Road users are used to a “pothole-riddled reality” caused by “years of underfunding, corruption, weak maintenance cultures, and political mismanagement”. In some places, the deterioration has been so marked that roads are left “resembling post-conflict zones”.

‘Strikingly inadequate’ enforcement

To promote road safety, Zimbabwean police have begun using body cameras and breathalysers, and want a “review of the driver licensing system”, said AP. This would include improvements to training programmes, public information campaigns to raise awareness of reckless driving, and tougher enforcement, including deducting points for more driving offences.

The Zimbabwean government is targeting tourist routes for improvement, hoping the investment will “deliver a key economic benefit” for the country and its struggling economy, said Global Highways. One example is the road linking Beitbridge, on the South African border, with Bulawayo and the ever-popular Victoria Falls. The Zimbabwe Transport Ministry has, however, “exceeded its planned budget”, meaning “there are concerns as to how future works will be funded”.

“While road rehabilitation is a positive step, it cannot solve the problem alone,” said The Herald. The government has shown it can take hardline legislative stances – such as its recent strategy to tackle drug trafficking and substance abuse – and it is essential that the same “model of commitment and resource intensity” is “replicated” in the road safety sector.

New road safety policies have been introduced but their enforcement is “strikingly inadequate”. Inconsistent action by the authorities has led to drivers and passengers feeling “empowered to flout safety rules without fear of consequence”.