HARARE, Zimbabwe – Who is Tafara Wind Zimbabwean Driving instructor, started working 16 years ago, his job was simple: teach the rules of the road and prepare students for the driving test.
Today his priorities have changed. His main concern is no longer just the exam, but whether his students will survive the world's deadliest roads. This is vital in a country where road accidents are among the leading causes of death, according to the national statistics agency, and where road fatality rates are among the lowest on the continent. In Zimbabwe, An accident occurs every 15 minutes, killing five and injuring 38 every day.This was reported by the country's road safety agency.
“Back then we taught by the book, everything was by the book,” said Muvevhi, teaching his latest student to parallel park and reverse smoothly into spaces marked with blue drums at a dusty and worn-out tarmac training ground on the outskirts of the capital Harare.
Zimbabwe was once known for its orderly traffic and well-maintained roads, but road safety in Zimbabwe has steadily deteriorated since the 2000s, escalating into traffic chaos in the 2010s as the economic downturn led to deteriorating road maintenance, informal public transport flourishing, and weakening law enforcement. Despite the resumption of repair work and police efforts, dangerous driving remains deeply rooted.
“Other drivers no longer tolerate us, shouting, passing illegally, putting pressure on students, so our students are essentially trying to fit in,” he said before his student drove through streets where both drivers and pedestrians pay no attention to the rules.
For student Winfrida Chipashu, 19, who is majoring in accounting at university, Harare's roads are more daunting than balancing the books.
“You can’t compare it to accounting because (in accounting) you have all the concepts,” Chipashu said. “When you're driving through the jungle, you get confused by other people who don't follow traffic rules.”
The southern African country's roads are at their deadliest during holidays and other celebrations, but danger lurks daily, largely due to dangerous driving that the government says is alarming.
Zimbabwe has one of the highest rates of road traffic deaths in Africa. World Health Organization an estimated nearly 30 deaths per 100,000 people.
On the roads the contradictions are obvious. Minibus taxis with “Safety First” signs suddenly drive into pedestrian lanes and into oncoming traffic. Inspectors hang on the doors and behind moving vehicles and shout to customers. Sedans packed with 12 passengers, including in the trunk, do not meet the five-passenger limit.
Authorities say 94% of road accidents in the country of 15 million people are caused by human error. Drivers' and pedestrians' distraction from mobile phones is responsible for about 10% of deaths, said Munesu Munodavafa, head of the Zimbabwe Road Safety Council.
“It’s scary,” Munodawafa said. “For such a small population, these numbers are alarming.”
The crisis in Zimbabwe reflects a broader African pattern. Road traffic accidents kill about 300,000 people here every year, about a quarter of the global death toll. The continent has the world's highest death rate, with 26.6 deaths per 100,000 people, compared with a global average of about 18. This is despite the fact that the continent of 1.5 billion people accounts for only about 3% of the world's car fleet, according to the UN Economic Commission for Africa.
Road traffic deaths in Africa are also rising faster than in any other region, with fatalities rising 17% between 2010 and 2021, according to the World Health Organization's latest report on road safety in Africa, published in mid-2024.
The WHO attributes the surge in part to weak road safety laws and enforcement, reckless driving, and rapid urbanization and motorization. Vehicle registrations in Africa nearly tripled between 2013 and 2021, driven by imports of used cars and a surge in the number of motorcycles and three-wheelers. Pedestrians, cyclists and drivers of two- and three-wheelers account for about half of all fatalities, according to the UN agency.
In Uganda, where unregulated motorcycles dominate transportCareless overtaking and speeding accounted for 44.5% of accidents in 2024, according to local police, and in neighboring Kenya and across East Africa frequent accidents on bad roads and dangerous driving are fueling repeated calls for tougher road safety regulations.
To improve road safety, Zimbabwe police recently purchased body cameras and breathalyzers and are pushing for an overhaul of the driver's license system, including docking points for offenders, and revamped driver education programs to highlight the dangers of reckless driving.
“Drivers do not have a license to kill, they have a license to enforce road safety rules and protect lives on the road, but unfortunately that is not the case,” police spokesman Paul Nyathi said.
For instructors like Muvevhi, the lesson was survival.
“When we educate our students, it's no longer a matter of just getting a driver's license,” he said. “We teach them to stay alive despite the wrong actions of other road users.”
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