As the nation lost more than 500 citizens to traffic accidents between October and December of last year, the Zambian police collected over K16 million in fines for admission of responsibility.
With 570 fatalities on Zambian roads in the fourth quarter of 2022, traffic accidents there have continued to cost lives.
According to a statement from police deputy public relations officer Danny Mwale, there were more than 9000 traffic accidents between October and December of last year, a rise of over 500 instances compared to the same period in 2021.
“Police recorded 9,070 Road Traffic Accidents during the fourth quarter (October to December) of 2022 countrywide as compared to 8,505 accidents recorded during the same period in 2021 giving an increase of 565 road traffic accidents recorded. During the period under review, 501 accidents were recorded as fatal road traffic accidents in which 570 persons were killed while 877 were recorded as serious injury road traffic accidents in which 1,501 persons were seriously injured,” he said.`
According to Mr. Mwale, the police also reported 1,670 incidents as minor traffic accidents, in which 2,482 people had minor injuries, and 6,022 incidents as minor traffic accidents that solely caused property damage.
According to him, Lusaka had the most traffic accidents on the roads (4,735), followed by the Copperbelt (1,600), and Central Province (739).
While Eastern Province only had 316 accidents, Southern Province had 498. Road accidents occurred more frequently in Luapula Province (37) than North-Western Province (314). The number of accidents in the Western and Northern provinces was 207, 206, while Muchinga province had 185.
“Most of the road traffic accidents during the fourth quarter of 2022 were attributed to human error such as Misjudging clearance distance, Excessive speed, Failing to keep to nearside, Reversing negligently and Cutting-in,” he said
Meanwhile, the police coffers received a boost with the service collecting over K16 million in fines.
“And Police collected a total amount of K16, 630,857.00 in Admission of Guilt fines during the period under review as compared to K14, 011,754.00 collected in the fourth quarter of 2021,” he said.
