HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — When Tafara Muvevi, a Zimbabwean driving instructor, started work 16 years ago, his job was simple: teach the highway code and prepare students to pass their driving test.
Today, his priorities have changed. His main concern is no longer just exams, but whether his students will survive some of the deadliest roads in the world. This is significant in a country where road crashes rank among the top killers, according to the National Statistics Agency, and the road crash death rate is among the worst on the continent. In Zimbabwe, an accident occurs every 15 minutes, killing five people and injuring 38 every day, according to the country’s traffic safety agency.
“Back then we taught by the book, it was all by the book,” Muvevi said as he trained his new students on a dusty and dilapidated tarmac training ground on the outskirts of the capital, Harare, through parallel parking and blue drum markings.
Once known for orderly traffic and well-maintained roads, Zimbabwe’s road safety has steadily deteriorated since the 2000s, descending into traffic chaos in the 2010s as the economic downturn spurred road maintenance, increased informal public transport and weak enforcement. Despite renewed maintenance and police efforts, dangerous driving is rampant.
“Other drivers are no longer patient with us, they beat, they overtake illegally, they pressure the students so our students are basically trying to adjust,” he said, before his students navigate a road where both drivers and pedestrians don’t care about the rules.
The student, 19-year-old Winfrieda Chipashu, an accounting major at the university, said Harare’s streets are more daunting than balancing the accounts.
“You can’t compare it to accounting because (in accounting) you have all the concepts,” Chipashu said. “When you’re driving in the woods, you’re confused by other people who don’t follow the rules of the road.”
Roads are becoming more dangerous
The southern African nation’s roads are at their deadliest during the festive season and other holidays, but danger lurks on a daily basis, driven largely by dangerous driving that the government says is a growing concern.
Zimbabwe has one of the highest road accident death rates in Africa, with the World Health Organization estimating 30 deaths per 100,000 people.
On the streets, the contrasts are stark. Minibus taxis bearing “Safety First” signs veer haphazardly across pedestrian lanes and into oncoming traffic. Fare collectors close doors and shout for customers in the back of moving vehicles. Sedans with 12 passengers in the trunk are jammed, defying five-seat limits.
In a country with a population of 15 million, 94 percent of road accidents are caused by human error, officials said. Cellphone distraction among drivers and pedestrians accounts for 10% of deaths, said Munesu Munodawafa, head of the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe.
“That’s scary,” Munodwafa said. “For such a small population, those numbers are alarming.”
It is a regional problem
Zimbabwe’s crisis reflects a broader African pattern. Road accidents here kill 300,000 people annually, nearly a quarter of the global toll. According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the continent has one of the highest mortality rates in the world at 26.6 deaths per 100,000 people, compared to a global average of about 18. This is only 3% of the world’s vehicle population despite a continent of 1.5 billion people.
Road traffic deaths in Africa are also increasing faster than any other region, with deaths increasing by 17% between 2010 and 2021, according to the World Health Organization’s latest Africa Road Safety Report released in mid-2024.
The WHO has linked this increase to weak road safety laws and enforcement, reckless driving, and rapid urbanization and motorization. Vehicle registrations in Africa are expected to nearly triple between 2013 and 2021, with sharp increases in imported used vehicles and motorcycles and three-wheelers. According to the United Nations agency, pedestrians, cyclists and riders of two- and three-wheeled vehicles account for half of all deaths.
In Uganda, where unruly motorbikes dominate traffic, reckless overtaking and speeding will account for 44.5% of accidents in 2024, police there say, while in neighboring Kenya and across East Africa, frequent crashes on bad roads and dangerous driving fuel prompt repeated calls for tougher road safety rules.
Looking for a solution
To increase road safety, police in Zimbabwe have recently acquired body cameras and breathalyzers and are pushing for a review of the driver licensing system, including docking points for criminals and revamping of driver training programs to highlight the dangers of reckless driving.
“Drivers are not licensed to be killers, they are licensed to practice road safety and protect lives on the road but sadly that is not the case,” police spokesman Paul Nyathi said.
It became a lesson of survival for coaches like Muvevi.
“When we teach our students, it’s no longer just about getting a driver’s license,” he said. “We teach them to survive despite the misdeeds of other road users.”
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