Heroes, unity holidays claim 43 lives in 345 road accidents —Police

A total of 345 road traffic accidents (RTAs) were recorded across the country during the Heroes and Unity Holiday, with 29 of them classified as fatal, resulting in 43 deaths, according to the Zambia Police.

In a statement issued in Lusaka on Thursday, Police Assistant Public Relations Officer, Chipo Kaitisha, disclosed that 42 accidents were categorized as serious injury cases, leaving 46 people seriously injured.

Additionally, 86 accidents resulted in slight injuries to 117 individuals, while 184 were recorded as damage-only accidents.

Lusaka Province recorded the highest number of accidents at 141, followed by the Copperbelt with 46 and North-Western Province with 31.

Southern Province registered 30 accidents, Eastern had 28, Central recorded 26, Luapula 15, while Northern and Western provinces had 10 accidents each. Muchinga Province recorded the fewest, with 8 accidents.

Kaitisha noted that during the same holiday period in 2024, Police recorded 319 RTAs, including 25 fatal ones which claimed 27 lives.

That year also saw 42 serious injury accidents, with 78 people seriously injured.

Meanwhile, Police collected K915,955 in Admission of Guilty fines during this year’s long weekend, compared to K694,815 collected in 2024 during the same period.

“Most of the road traffic accidents recorded were attributed to low compliance with traffic rules. Human error remains a critical issue,” Kaitisha said.

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