Zambia Revises Highway Code

GOVERNMENT has revised the Zambia Highway Code in an
effort to reduce the number of road fatalities and injuries the country had
continued to record, Minister of Transport and Communications Brian Mushimba
has said.

Mr Mushimba said the revision of the Highway Code was
also necessitated by non-adherence to road traffic regulations by both
pedestrians and motorists.

Mr Mushimba said 
the unnecessary road crashes could have been avoided if there was a
robust safety programme in place that responded to technological and
environmental advancement in the country.

Mr Mushimba, however, said there were also too many gaps
in the old version of the Highway Code which rendered it not useful for road
safety education to address the many challenges experienced on the road.

Speaking during the launch of the revised Highway Code
yesterday in Lusaka Mr Mushimba said the revision of the code was going to
improve the road safety profile of the country as it was focused on addressing
the cause of road crashes on the road. 

“Government strongly believe that the revision of
the Highway Code will enable us to meet our objectives in improving the road
safety profile of the country because the revision focused on addressing major
factors that cause road crashes on our roads,” he said.

Mr Mushimba assured that the new code covered all road
users including the physically challenged and other non-motorised road users.

Mr Mushimba reiterated that the government’s commitment
to improve the road safety profile of the country was cardinal for the
transport sector development agenda.

Meanwhile, Mr
Mushimba has directed RSTA to speed up the translation of the Highway Code in
the seven major Zambian languages to ensure that information contained could be
accessed by a wider audience in the country.

DAILY NATION