NINE children under the age of 16 were among casualties of road traffic accidents in transition to 2024, where three were killed, three seriously injured and another three slightly injured.

Meanwhile, sixteen people were recorded dead from 262 Road Traffic Accidents captured from 18:00 hours on 31st December, 2023 to 06:00 hours on 01st January, 2024 during the New Year Holiday.
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Police Public Relations Officer, Rae Hamoonga, says six of those deceased were in Central Province, five in Lusaka, two in Luapula, while the Copperbelt, Eastern and Northern regions recorded one case each.

Hamoonga adds that 40 of those accidents were classified as serious injury in which 67 persons were seriously injured, 39 as slight injury with 56 persons were slightly injured, while 167 were recorded as damage only road traffic accidents.

He highlights that in the same previous holiday getting into last year, 188 road traffic accidents were recorded, showing an increase by 74 in the latest figures.

Hamoonga states that 14 persons were killed from 13 fatal accidents in the period heading to 2023 as compared to this year’s number which as increased by 16.

Meanwhile, Hamoonga reveals that during the 2024 transition period in the aforementioned time frame, 28 reports of unlicensed drivers were recorded countrywide, with a 15-year-old juvenile amongst the offenders.

He explains that under hit and run traffic accidents, 18 incidents were recorded, with four people dead thereof, six seriously injured and another four slightly injured.

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