The Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) has requested Power Tools Bus Services to show cause within seven days why their road service licence should not be suspended or revoked for defying the provisions of Statutory Instrument (SI) No. 76 of 2016 which restricts the movement of Public Service Vehicles (PSV) at night, and thereby posing serious danger to the travelling public.
In a letter dated 10th January 2019 addressed to the Director of Power Tools Bus services, the agency has observed that the latter action by the operator is tantamount to violating the conditions upon which the operator’s licence was granted in accordance with section 108 (16) of the Road Traffic Act No. 11 of 2002.
This comes in a wake of a road traffic crash on 28th December, 2018 around 04:22 hours, involving a power Tools bus registration number ALD 1807 were one person died and five injured.
The crash occurred along the Kapiri Mposhi – Ndola road, 20 kilometers from Ndola at Rainbow area.
RTSA Head of Public Relations Fredrick Mubanga has confirmed the development to Money FM News that the accident investigations conducted by the RTSA have revealed that the cause of the accident was dangerous driving on the part of the driver Taylos Musonda.
Mr. Mubanga says the driver failed to notice a stationary vehicle on the road and ended up hitting into it despite a warning device (triangle) having been mounted to warn oncoming traffic of a breakdown ahead.
“It was further established that the accident occurred around 04:22 hours when the bus should have been parked in accordance with Statutory Instrument No. 76 of 2016 on restriction on night driving for PSVs between 21:00 hours to 05:00 hours,” he said.
Mr. Mubanga says the RTSA is evoking Section 108 (16) of the Road Traffic Act No. 11 of 2002 that empowers the Agency to revoke, suspend or vary the terms of a RSL if the conditions subject to which it was granted are not being complied with.
“Further, the RTSA is worried with the deteriorating road safety record for Power Tools bus services which recorded two (02) road crashes in a space of three days, between 28th and 31st December, 2018 in which four (04) people died,” he said.
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