The number of people killed in road accidents during the New Year holiday has remained unchanged at 13 in 2020, with a major reduction in the number of slight road traffic accidents from 33 in 2019 to 16 in 2020, the Zambia Police has said.

And Police public relations officer Esther Katongo announced that K434, 270.00 was raised in Admission of Guilt fines during the same period.

In a statement, Katongo noted that the total number of accidents in the period under review reduced by 19 with 101 accidents recorded in 2020 as compared to 120 recorded in 2019.

“A total number of 101 road traffic accidents were reported during this New Year holiday. 13 were fatal road traffic accidents in which 13 persons were killed, 15 were serious road traffic accidents in which 18 persons were seriously injured, 16 were slight road traffic accidents in which 19 persons were slightly injured and 57 were damage only road traffic accidents. Lusaka Province recorded the highest number of road traffic accidents with 38 whilst Muchinga and Western provinces recorded the least with 01 and 02 road traffic accidents respectively. In comparison with previous New Year holiday of 2019, a total number of 120 road traffic accidents were recorded as compared to 101 recorded this year which shows a decrease by 19 road traffic accidents,” stated Katongo.

“11 were fatal road traffic accidents in which 13 persons were killed in the 2019 New-year holiday as compared to 13 fatal road traffic accidents where 13 persons were killed in 2020. The records show an increase by 02 fatal road traffic accidents while the number of persons killed remains at 13.In year 2019, 14 road traffic accidents were recorded as serious accidents in which 15 persons were seriously injured as compared to 15 serious road traffic accidents where 18 persons were seriously injured in 2020 New-year holiday. The figure shows an increase by one serious road traffic accident and an increase by three persons seriously injured. 33 road traffic accidents were recorded as slight road traffic accidents in 2019 where 35 persons were slightly injured as compared to 16 slight road traffic accidents where 19 persons were slightly injured in 2020. The figures show a decrease by 17 slight road traffic accidents and 16 in persons slightly injured.”