An assessment of the effectiveness of the law in curbing road traffic accidents

Human life is lost in so many ways. One of these is through road traffic accidents. Road traffic accidents have become a menace to society. This was first realized in the colonial era and extended to present day Zambia. In order to prevent or mitigate the occurrence of traffic accidents, there is, in place, an Act of Parliament. This Act is known as the Roads and Road Traffic Act Cap 766 of 2002.This Act is in place to ensure that road users are aware of the dos and don'ts while using public roads. The Act has a number of provisions in relation to the conduct of road users. One such provision is in relation to over speeding and many more others. It is also recognised that there are a number of causes of road traffic accidents which are clearly catered for in the Act. The Act, therefore become4s more important in safe guarding the lives of innocent Zambians, including children are the future leaders. As a reSsult of this, there is need to identify the measures put in place to mitigate the occurrence of traffic accidents. Some measures include snap checks by the police, setting up of speed traps along certain major roads and sensitizing drivers on the need to safe guard their lives and that of others. In line with the aforesaid, it is also desired to consider the socio-economic effects of traffic accidents. This is because when a person dies in un timely death; there is more grief on the part of the family. The Act also provides for the need for all motor vehicles to be insured. It also provides penalties to offenders or those who contravene the law. The biggest question to be asked is that "Why are road traffic accidents on the increase despite the Roads and Road Traffic Act in place?" It is from the aforesaid that it became necessary to assess the effectiveness of the law in curbing road traffic accidents, hence the topic at hand in this paper

Author dc:creator

• Mubita, Austern

• Traffic Accidents-Zambia
• Traffic Safety
• Traffic Accidents-law and legislation

Language dc:language.iso

en

Repository record dc:identifier.uri

http://dspace.unza.zm/handle/123456789/2302

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.unza.zm:123456789/2302