By MILDRED KATONGO  –

THE Zambia Road Safety Trust (ZRST) has called for the strengthening of penalties related to serious driving offences that lead to injury or death.
ZRST chairperson Daniel Mwamba is concerned that the justice system is letting off careless drivers who endanger and kill innocent people.
Mr Mwamba noted that the penalty given to David Mwambazi who caused the death of Muvi–TV reporter Agnes Jere by knocking her down on her way to work last year was inadequate and would not send a strong message to would-be offenders.
He said in a statement that the penalty was not enough and called for changes to the law to ensure that proper justice was delivered in the future.
“Drivers causing death by dangerous driving should be punished accordingly and not allowed to go scot-free by only fining them.
“The Trust is concerned with the high rate of people who are killed on the roads and offenders not being punished accordingly,” he said.
Mr Mwamba suggested that charges and penalties for causing death or serious injury should be mandatory custodial sentences of not less than five years.
He said in 2015, more than 2,000 people died as a result of road crashes, and that over 50 per cent were pedestrians killed by reckless drivers.
“We need changes throughout the system from police investigations through to prosecutions and sentencing in order to give justice to families who suffer from these awful crimes and also to deter people from behaving so recklessly during driving.
“We shall work with members of Parliament and others willing to introduce a bill in parliament on this matter. We must see a change across the board by the end of 2016 so that we can at least deliver justice for victims and their families,” he said.