The Malawi Police Service (MPS) says the country has registered a 55 percent decrease in road accidents on new year [2024] as compared to last year’s 75 percent.

According to road accident statistics released by the National Police Deputy spokesperson Alfred Chimthere, on new year holiday a total of nine road accidents have been reported whereas last year, there were 20 road accidents recorded.

Chimthere has told YONECO FM that the service recorded two fatal road accidents whereby two people died, while in 2023 there were eight fatal accidents and nine people lost their lives.

“We are happy as police and we believe the initiatives that we are doing on the ground, especially the enforcement, the visibility of our officers and also all other tasks our traffic department are doing currently are paying dividend.

“It is our wish that this trend should continue in 2024 we have started on a greater pace. This is something that we have to contain and ensure that the situation throughout the year is on the decrease for road accidents,” he said.

The fatal accident victims include two pedestrians, one in Blantyre and the other in Mzuzu.

In addition, one serious accident, 4 minor accidents and two damages’ only accidents have been registered in 2024, all representing decreases.

Consequently, the 2024 New Year holiday has registered what MPS calls a huge decrease in the total number of road accidents and deaths, compared to the same period in 2023.

Chimthere has since attributed the downward spiral to intensive sensitisation meetings, police visibility and traffic enforcement.