World Health Organisation (WHO) data show that Zimbabwe has the highest rate of fatal road accidents in southern Africa.
The data reveals that five people die every day and that a crash occurs every 15 minutes.
According to the WHO’s Road Safety Performance Review, an estimated 665 people were killed each year in traffic accidents on Zimbabwe’s roads.
This toll was said to average out at 35 deaths per 100 000 people – the highest in the region.
By comparison, South Africa loses an average of 25.9 people per 100,000, Namibia 30, Malawi 31, and Botswana 23.
According to the research, road accidents in Zimbabwe increased by nearly 35% between 2011 and 2019.
During this period Zimbabweans bought many more second-hand cars, about 700 000.
Since very few new roads have been built in this time, Zimbabwe’s highways have become much more crowded and deadly as have central business districts, especially in Harare, which is regularly gridlocked.