The government is engaging the United Nations to come up with ways to strengthen Zimbabwe’s road safety measures to reduce the carnage.
UN’s Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety, Mr Jean Todt is in Zimbabwe to assist the country to strengthen its road safety strategies and policies to achieve aspirations of the Decade of Action for Road Safety which runs up to 2030.
Mr Todt who arrived in Zimbabwe this Tuesday will focus on helping Zimbabwe zero in on reducing road traffic deaths and injuries by at least 50 percent within 10 years.
“It is important to collaborate and we have seen the government putting road safety high on the agenda although there are a lot of accidents on the roads, something we need to address and also see how we can strengthen road safety, so we will have engagements with the government, the private sector, and other stakeholders on how we can achieve sustainable development goal to reduce road deaths and injuries by 2030,” he said.
Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister, Honourable Felix Mhona who welcomed Mr Todt at the Harare International Airport highlighted that the country is seeking to tap into the United Nations Road Safety Fund.
“As a nation, we are delighted with the engagement and re-engagement processes as a result of the Zimbabwe is open for business mantra. Delighted in the sense that at this juncture we have been racing against time to make sure that we also have statutory instruments to mitigate road carnage and I am happy that the special envoy here will address some of the concerns of the nation to reduce road carnage and as we debate and negotiate will also see how we can tap into the United Nations road safety fund,” he said.
The government is set to review some statutory instruments that speak to strengthening legislation on road safety.
According to local statistics, five people die every day from road traffic accidents.
ZBC
Positive Eye
