Mulanje Police Station has registered 20 percent decrease in road accidents in the first quarter of 2024.
Through a report, Mulanje Police Public Relations Officer, Sergeant Innocent Moses, said the station registered eight road accidents where only one person died in the first three months (January to March) of this year.
He added that this was a reduction compared to last year within the same period when the station registered 10 road accidents which claimed two lives of people.
The report also shows that there has been no serious road accident in both consecutive quarters for the two consecutive years.
“The decline in road accidents is attributed to a number of factors which include introduction of alcohol content detecting machine (breathalyser) which clearly compels drivers to refrain from driving whilst drunk, intensive traffic checks by traffic police officers in all accident-prone areas which helped in regulating unnecessary speeding, overtaking and overloading,” added Moses.
He also observed improved coordination between the police and all road users on their adherence to traffic rules and regulations as a result of series of awareness programmes in the district and further encouraged all road users to continue cooperating with the police by abiding to all traffic rules and regulations.
Mulanje police therefore assured road users that they, as police, will continue with measurers that will help to prevent road accidents in the remaining quarters of the year.
A motorcyclist, Dickson Makina from Mulanje, acknowledged police vicinity in most roads in the district, saying their vicinity remind road users of their obligation on the roads.
“The police try hard to minimize road accidents and motor cyclists are always told to wear crash helmet on top of abiding by all other traffic rules and regulations,” he told Malawi News Agency.
The police earned more praise from a passenger, Beatrice Dzumbira, who commended the law enforcers in Mulanje for checking vehicles’ roadworthiness, drivers licence, licence’s validity and vehicle capacity.
“Whenever l travel in minibus, I see the traffic police checking whether it is roadworthy, right number of passengers according to its capacity and whether the driver has valid license to carry passengers,” she added.
