Malawi has recorded fewer road accidents on festive season, police has said.
Southern region has recorded three accidents with four deaths, according to Police.
Southern Region Police publicist, Nicholas Gondwa told Nyasa Times, out of the three accidents that happened on Christmas, one was fatal where four died, and the other one was serious with three children sustaining fractures.
“The other accident was minor, one person only sustained browses. But there was no accident recorded on New Year just like was last year.
“However, this year’s Christmas accident record is not good compared to 2011 where only two accidents occurred. Despite all this, we can say we are improving in reducing road accidents during festive season,” said Gondwa.
Police on the scene of one of the accidents in the roads of Malawi
Gondwa also said the deployment of traffic officers in accident spot areas during the New Year had helped in ensuring the region registers no road accidents as people celebrate the down of 2013.
“The media has also helped for advocating for safety driving during the festive season. We are grateful to the effort put up by various sectors in propagating the ‘don’t drink and drive and arrive alive’ messages to ensure we have an accident free season,” he added.
In the past years, Malawi has been recording highest rate of festive season road accidents, with most of them fatal resulting to the loss of lives.
The Christmas and New Year holiday period is historically associated with disregard of road rules and laws, which subsequently leads to accidents, damage to property and loss of lives.