Many passengers continue to lose their lives in public transport accidents. The Lion King Bus accident where 43 lives were lost is a case in mind, we can also add the kombi accident in Seke where more than 9 passengers perished on the spot. In all of the accidents, the number 1 problem is over speeding.
The question that comes to mind is ‘ Will passengers not be aware that a bus is over speeding?’ Interviews with the survivors of the Lion King Bus accident shows that passengers were aware of the over speeding by the bus driver. Some cautioned him but to no avail. He kept on speeding resulting in the horror crash!
The proposed solution from ZBIN is as follows;
1.All buses should have the contact details of the owner or supervisor of the bus. These details should be displayed where every passenger can see them. The details can also be put on the bus ticket. In cases of over speeding-passengers to immediately contact the number so that the supervisor can contact the driver.
2. Bus companies should invest in awareness campaigns to let passengers know of their rights to notify the supervisor or bus owner if they suspect that a bus is over speeding.
3. The system to be checked for compliance by authorities, log books of complaints received to be checked and action taken by buses being monitored.
We believe that when buses know that passengers know their rights, they know where to report when buses are over speeding then can take corrective action on over speeding problems. The current scenario is that passengers just keep quiet and those who speak up are never listened to by bus drivers. If you continuously complain you risk being ejected from the bus or other passengers may disagree with you and encourage the driver to keep or increase speed!
Passengers should not sit idle whilst being driven to death, they should take action to stop over speeding! In the case of the Lion King Bus crash-passengers noticed over speeding more than 100 kilometres away before the horror crash. Had they phoned the bus supervisor or owner to notify them of the over speeding-chances are high that the 43 lives lost could have been saved.
Below we bring you some of the responses from the Zimbabwe Business Ideas and Network members
Ashley York Best way to stop buses speeding is for insurance companies not to supply third party liability cover to ungoverned buses. It will be too expensive for the bus companies to cover this amount of deaths without insurance.
Richmore Mudhodha I do support your idea coz we are losing precious and innocent souls
Missy Ree Ree Nyatananga Your idea is plausible Mdala.Shld the passenger’s request had been taken cognisance of maybe it cld hv been a different case
Tori Elles Mum Before I had a child I used to enjoy the high speed especially travelling to SA. Intercape yaitondisvota coz “yainanaira” coz of the speed track yavaive nayo don’t know about now. Senge madays eGo liner Supreme paive nadriver wandaifarira stereki Lloyd I think is his name haaa aiflya paroad iyeye nzeve dzaivhara senge ndege iri kuenda mudenga. Now that I’m a mother I’d rather vabereki vandirove ndaita noise kuti ndidzike when the driver is driving at a very high speed. Vabereki should learn to rise with one voice not kungogara vakabatira hana mumaoko vachimhanyisirwa kunourayiwa. This is just so sad mhan
Eng Brian Mukoyi Mdhara Rue. Thanks for bringing this subject up. But I have a different view. We seem to worry when a high number of people die in one accident. Measures should be taken across the board. How many cars travel above 120km/hr and we don’t seem concerned ? Whether it’s one life lost or 100 at once we need to deal with the same stick. Fuel tankers were banned from travelling at night, now we propose buses. Why not the smaller vehicles? Tinenge tichiendepi husiku with smaller cars where we do not want buses to go? Buses owners don’t lose anything in travelling on day if all passengers are restricted to day travelling. Speeding can happen during day and cause accidents. Let’s research on accidents in Zimbabwe and analyse the stats before we make such landmark decisions. My prayers are with the families of the deceased.
Eng Brian Mukoyi An afterthought. If a bus is running late the bus has to stop and passengers sleep on the road? Consider a passenger travelling from Harare to Vic Falls by bus. 880km. At 80km/hr the bus will take 11hrs. With stoppages of 15 minutes per rank in all towns along the way, the bus will stop for at least 1hr 30min. That’s a total of 12hr 30min. Just try to imagine the effect of the night ban to the passengers on such a trip
Brian Mathonsi We may blame each other till our Lord returns without mentioning the critical factor of our highways. I travelled at night some time back from SA via a Malayisha’s Quantam. The good fellow would fall asleep for a good 30s at a time and i would gently nudge him awake. We need wider roads. Period! Zimbabweans have this mentality of skirting the real issues that need addressing
Brian Mathonsi We cant still be using Ian Smith’s roads 37 years later and then accuse business people of ritual accidents. I refuse to entertain minimalistic arguments. The people responsible for delivering roads should deliver roads
Foster Leman James All buses should have satellite tracking so that their offices can monitor and instruct drivers to adhere to certain speeds
Exavior Chitova Chivige so sad that we lost so many lives, breadwinners and future leaders as well, but govt is to blame as well, people are ever travelling esp zimboz trying to make ends meet, kunoshava kuma neighbouring countries bcz of economic hardships back home, there are no jobs, no money yet you want to survive, the situation is just bad, every border human traffic ma zimbabweans, why, you rarely see south africans zambians malawians mozambicans coming to zim why but us going to those countries
Sabina Abdulla Above all comments are reasonable, But some passengers tell the bus driver to drive faster if the passengers are in a hurry to reach destination so both parties to be blamed here
Apton Kanyemba i work in the marine industry.we can control a ship that is about 3000 kms away,thats via satellite.and thats out at sea ey?,ofcoz thats technology.the same can be done by bus companies if they want to.a bus can be fitted wth a setillite tracking that control its speed and functions at any given time.someone can do fhat from their control room.but becoz owners dont want to meet that extra costs,i think Gov must make a it a condition befor issuing a new operators licence or renewing it.
Tori Elles Mum Realistically we all know that roads are far from being fixed so in the meantime should people continue to perish because roads aren’t being delivered? The blame is on the bus companies. Surely they can’t have their buses driving on our bad roads as though they are driving on SA roads which are good. They know the state of the roads and therefore should take measures to curb such incidents that may cause accidents e.g. installing tracking devices and putting supervisors contact details on the tickets so passengers can report if the driver isn’t taking heed of passengers plea to reduce speed. While we continue blaming the govt people are dying. There’s always a way of working around an unfavourable situation.
Alficha Marques We can use the tollgate clocking times to fine public transporters who are over speeding on roads with tollgates or something like that.
Blessing Bee Bling kare taiti tichienda kumusha tikasvika paroadblock bhazi romiswa hanzi hazvisi kufambirana ne timetable saka mirai kusvika nguva dzakwana or kudzokera kumashure taitoburuka mubhazi todya mbova tofambafamba musango kusvika tanzi nguva yakwana chiendai zvino zvikomana zvemabonda izvi zvinotoona business pauri hazvitobvunzi zvinongogamuchira mari nyangwe bhazi risiri mucondition as long atora mugove wake haana chinomutyisa
Blessing Bee Bling we demand renovations on the roads and cameras and speed trap devices like in S.A. zinara collects lumpsums from motorists on those suicidal roads where is the money going to?
Kevin Sena The Law Of Road Safety: When the driver and his vehicle lose it, the road must do something
Rachel Chitongo Dai kuri kuno mapassenger vakamukiya kukaroi
Mdala Wa Rue Abt 2 months ago i went to Mtoko Centre…ndichangobva pa toll gate kubuda muHre i saw an merc kombi yairova above 140 (i was travelling at 120)..the way he overtook me ndakangoti Mwari dai machengeta kombi iyi. Luckily it stopped at a roadblock and i overtook it. I thought all was ok only to find the kombi yakawa on my way back…it had burst a tyre a few kilos after Murewa….so kune vanowona a speeding public transport vehicle…vekunze uye vanenge varimo mukombi imomo…Do they have power or wongofa wakatarisa?
Christopher Chingono Every bus should have a police hotline which passengers can phone. This should be a toll free number to be used by passengers. Police at the next station can then be notified. Surely we cant let this driver carelessness go unpunished. The bus owners need to take reponsibility for their drivers actions as well. Bus companies need to start being taken to task for the behaviour of their drivers.
Rachel Chitongo vanhu don’t complain because vanenge vaneta ne the hundreds of stops in between
Justice Mungwini problem speeding does not start with bus driver,nor ends with him…long distance routes are more lucrative and a driver has to ‘perform’ to continue being given that route.calling supervisor driver z speeding will simply give the supervisor something to smile at…to involve the police at this season of tym will only give them an extra loophole yekuguma nayo ma driver mari…
Mai Mrehwa at one point we where in a speeding combi.we complained and the stupid driver started driving at 40km/h…needless to say …am still alive besides arriving hours late.
