SURVIVORS of the Kafue road traffic accident that claimed four lives on Tuesday involving a Juldan Motors Marcopolo Bus reveal that the bus was moving at the speed of light before the accident occurred, while the driver was also on the phone.
Among the deceased, was a six year-old grad one pupil, Siatala Nyala who was travelling to South Africa with her mother.
Aside from those killed, the road traffic accident left 29 other passengers with serious injuries and were admitted to Kafue General Hospital.
During a press briefing yesterday, Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) shared the details of the unfortunate incident.
RTSA Managing Director, Amon Mweemba revealed that the driver, Lebani Mwanza, 39, was actually stopped by traffic police due to the excessive speed that he was driving at, but despite the warning, he continued to over speed.
Mweemba also revealed further that investigations indicated that the bus had its Global Positioning System (GPS) disabled from someone in the bus since September 27, making it impossible for the agency to track the speed at which the bus was moving at.
The Agency’s MD shared that an interview with some of the eye witnesses who were passengers on the bus explained what happened in the bus before the accident.
“Just to quote the words of the survivors, when we spoke to them they said they were actually flying on the road to the extent that some traffic police officers even stopped the driver to warn him on the speed, but he later continued to drive at the high speed, and going by the weather of that day, the road was slippery which caused him to overturn,” Mweemba said.
He added that the bus was also illegally on the road as it left their company’s Freedom way bus station around 03:32 hours when they were supposed to start off at 04:00 hours.
He said the officers came to discover about the GPS being disabled after going through all the vehicles of the company which revealed that 11 of the buses belonging to Juldan Motors had their GPS disabled at the time of the investigation.
Further, Mweemba shared that RTSA officers are yet to interview the driver to get his side of the story, as he is still in admission after suffering internal injuries.
He said disciplinary measures will be taken on him to deter would-be offenders and ensure such an incident does not repeat itself ever.
“The last thing that the agency wants is to see lives being lost on the road, and especially for those being involved in public transportation. The accident raises the number of deaths in public transportation to five this year. Despite it being a reduction from last year, it is still not enough as our aim is to record zero deaths,” said Mweemba.
By Buumba Mwitumwa
Kalemba October 17, 2024
