HARARE – Seven people died in two separate road traffic accidents that which left 13 more injured over the Christmas weekend.
Two people died on the spot on Christmas Eve with two others dying on their way to the hospital in an accident that happened along the Chivhu-Nyazura Road at around 1930 hours Saturday.
A Toyota Rav 4 vehicle driving towards Chivhu with seven passengers on board collided head-on with a Hino truck.
In another incident on Christmas Day, three people died while 13 others were injured in an accident that happened at the 300km peg along Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Road Sunday at around 1945 hours.
“A motorist, who was driving a Toyota Hilux vehicle with three passengers on board towards Vic Falls, lost control of the car and veered off the road to the left, where he ran over seven pedestrians before swerving to the right side where he rammed onto a stationary Honda Fit vehicle which had six passengers.
“The Honda Fit vehicle overturned once and landed on its roof,” said the ZRP Monday.
The festive period comes with a lot of road traffic accidents often resulting in a lot of fatalities.
Last year, at least 77 people were killed in 1,295 road traffic accidents countrywide during the festive season with 1,216 accidents and 66 deaths recorded over the same period a year before.
In a 2022 festive season statement, Police Commissioner General Godwin Matanga urged drivers to avoid speeding and overloading their vehicles.
“Drivers should not speed or overload vehicles with passengers or goods. The mixing of goods and passengers will not be tolerated by the police during this holiday as this contributes to road traffic accidents,” Matanga said.
