ZANIS COPY -Improve rescue response in accidents – Kaunda

0
Banner 3
Banner 3

Improve rescue response in accidents – Kaunda

 

Kapiri Mposhi, February 12, ZANIS – Works, Supply and Communications Deputy Minister, Panji Kaunda has called for improved rescue response to accidents in-order-to save lives of survivor.

 

Colonel Kaunda said rescue teams in the country such as those under the fire brigade and police services were not competently equipped to respond to accidents and calamities on time to minimize deaths or save lives of people and property involved in accidents.

 

Speaking when he paid a courtesy call on Kapiri Mposhi District Commissioner, Beatrice Sikazwe, today, Colonel Kaunda noted that in most accidents that the country has experienced recently lives would have been saved if the rescue teams were adequately prepared and quickly responded to accidents.

 

“We fail to get to scenes quick enough so even the lives and property that we can save end up being destroyed because our rescue response is very bad we need to improve in this area,” Col. Kaunda said.

 

Colonel Kaunda said this in apparent reference to the recent Road Traffic Accidents where lives and property were lost.

 

Last week 51 people died when a Post Bus they were travelling in collided with a truck in Chibombo while nine people died barely a month ago when the minibus they were on collided with a Marcopolo bus in Kapiri Mposhi along the Great North Road.

 

And on Sunday two people died on the spot in a road traffic accident along the same road in Kapiri Mposhi when the Toyota Corolla vehicle they were traveling on collided head-on with a Volvo Zim Bulk Fuel Tanker.

 

The Deputy Minister said there was also need for the Road Traffic and Safety Agency (RTSA) to intensify education programs to motorists on road safety if road carnages are to be minimized in the country.

 

“We cannot prevent all the accidents but we can do something to minimize them if we emphasize road safety and make sure that our people learn”, Colonel Kaunda said.

 

While in Kapiri Mposhi Colonel Kaunda mounted a traffic check point with officers from RTSA and the Zambia Police service along the Great North Road where most motorists were intercepted for non compliance to road safety standards.

 

Meanwhile, Kapiri Mposhi District Commissioner, Beatrice Sikazwe, has appealed to the Road Development Agency (RDA) to relocate its Weighbridge at Kapiri Mposhi turnoff to avoid impending disasters due to traffic congestion along the Great North Road.

 

Most vehicles, among them fuel tankers, Park and block the main road while awaiting clearance at the Weighbridge.

 

“we have a time bomb at the weighbridge … this bridge needs to be constructed far from the road to create parking space for vehicles passing at the facility not the way it is when the vehicles are just carelessly packed along the main road,” Ms. Sikazwe said.

 

But RDA Mobile Weighbridge Team Leader, George Zyambo said the agency will soon standardize and re-engineer the facility.

 

Mr. Zyambo who was in Colonel Kaunda’s Ministerial entourage said RDA has already re-designed the Kapiri Mposhi Weighbridge putting into account necessary safety measures.

 

“The weighbridge at Kapiri has been redesigned and re-engineered and later on this month it will come to a close to pave way for its fixing because it is not in the safest state,” Mr. Zyambo said.

 

NO COMMENTS

LEAVE A REPLY