By ALICE NACHILEMBE
The Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) has given seven days ultimatum to Nicpro Trading to show why they Road Service Licence should not suspended for violating the Road Traffic Act.
The Agency has also summoned the driver of the bus to show why his Driving Licence should not be revoked for endangering the lives of the passengers.
This is in an incident where a fatal road traffic accident occurred on February 26 at about 22:29 hours along the Great North Road in Mpika involving a bus in which seven passengers died on the spot while 29 others sustained serious injuries.
The bus was heading to Lusaka from Nakonde.
RTSA Head Public Relations Fredrick Mubanga said preliminary accident investigations have revealed that the accident happened when the driver of the bus, registration number ABE 5433 belonging to Nicpro Trading Limited lost control after hitting a pothole and thereafter plunged into a stream at a place called Kapoko 48 Kilometers South of Mpika.
Mr Mubanga said the accident investigations have further established that the driver and the operator neglected or failed to ensure that the bus in question was parked at 22:00 hours as indicated by the Global Position System (GPS) report.
He said RTSA is of the view that driver and the operator defied the provisions of the Statutory Instrument (SI) No. 76 of 2016 and Statutory Instrument (SI) No. 51 of 2021 which restricts the movement of Public Service Vehicles (PSVs) at night.
Mr Mubanga said the lives of the passengers were put in danger resulting in loss of lives which could have been avoided.
And RTSA Director and Chief Executive Officer, Gladwell Banda, has described the crash as unfortunate stating that the constant loss of lives is a source of concern.
Mr Banda has since warned that the Agency will enforce the provisions of the Road Traffic Act No. 11 of 2002 in totality to mitigate the recent spike in road crashes.
