RTSA: KAPENA BUS DRIVER DEFIED THE BAN ON NIGHT DRIVING OF A PSV
THE Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) says its preliminary investigations in the Kapena Bus Services accident which claimed 17 lives and injured 48 others, indicate that the driver defied the ban on night driving.
RTSA Head of Public Relations Frederick Mubanga says the agency will however take appropriate action on the operator.
“According to preliminary investigation conducted by the RTSA, the accident involving a Kapena Bus Services Registration Number ABP 6303 which was heading to Chipata, Eastern Province failed to negotiate a curve and lost control. One of the accident survivor Sikombe Banda has revealed to the Agency that the accident occurred on 23rd May, at around 21:00hrs few kilometers before the Luangwa Bridge,” Mubanga says.
“It has been established that the driver and the operator defied the provisions of the Statutory Instrument (SI) No. 76 which restricts the movement of Public Service Vehicles (PSV) at night.”
Mubanga says the agency further established that the operator has been operating outside the provisions of the SI No. 76 and the Agency has on several instances warned and impounded the operator for violating the law.
“It has further been established that Kapena Bus Services has on several occasions been operating outside the provisions of the SI No. 76 and the Agency has on several instances warned and impounded the operator for violating the law,” he says.
“The Agency will take appropriate action concerning the operator who is supposed to ensure that the buses or fleet team operate within the provisions of the law.”
And Mubanga has called on the traveling public to report such violations to avoid road traffic accidents and to refuse to be commuted outside the approved driving hours under the law.