Easter road accidents drop by 70

NOEL IYOMBWA writes ZAMBIA recorded 70 less road traffic accidents during the Easter Holiday compared to last year, the Zambia Police Service has said. A total of 142 road traffic accidents were recorded during this year’s Easter Holiday countrywide while 212 were recorded during the same period last year. Spokesperson Esther Katongo said in a statement seven were fatal accidents in which seven people died, 17 were serious road traffic accidents in which 24 people were seriously injured. Ms Katongo said 35 were slight road traffic accidents in which 42 people were slightly injured. “In comparison with 2019 Easter Holiday, 212 road traffic accidents were recorded as compared to 142 road traffic accidents which were recorded this Easter. “The figures show a reduction by 70 road traffic accidents. Fifteen road traffic accidents were fatal in which 16 persons were killed in 2019 as compared to seven fatal road traffic accidents where seven persons were killed in 2020 Easter period. The records show a decrease by eight fatal road traffic accidents and nine persons killed,” she said. Ms Katongo also said 33 persons were seriously injured in 27 serious road traffic accidents in 2019 as compared to 24 seriously injured in 17 serious road traffic accidents in 2020. She said the figures show a decrease in both persons seriously injured and serious road traffic accidents by nine and 10, respectively. “Forty five were slight road traffic accidents in which 54 persons were slightly injured in 2019 as compared to 35 slight road traffic accidents where 42 persons were slightly injured in the Easter period of 2020. “The figures also show a reduction in persons slightly injured and slight road traffic accidents by 10 and 12 respectively. “One hundred and twenty five damages only road traffic accidents were recorded in the Easter period of 2019 as compared to 83 recorded in 2020,”she said. Ms Katongo said Lusaka Province recorded the highest number of road traffic accidents with 57 in which one death was recorded, Copperbelt had 31 with two deaths while Central had 11 accidents with one death. Southern Province had 10 accidents with no death recorded, Eastern had seven accidents with no death, Western had eight with one death, North-Western had six accidents with one death while Luapula Province had five accidents without any death.