Road carnage must be stemmed

Almost 4,000 people are killed and many hundreds of thousands injured on roads throughout the world every day. Many more have to cope with bereavement or the effects of injury and thus become part of the huge group of people affected by road carnage.

Indeed, road carnage remains a challenging scenarioin Tanzania. National leaders have, umpteen times, exhorted drivers to exercise optimum caution.

The leaders have often spoken bitterly about the chain of grim accidents. Most accidents, it has been determined, stem from the recklessness of drivers who handle passenger buses without much regard to safety. Buses often overturn due to excessive speeding.

Some of the drivers, especially those who have never had driving lessons and do not even possess driving licences, drive at frightening speed , even when travelling on the worst roads. Many of them hardly know what the roadside traffic signs require.

Too, many road signs remain missing on our roads. This too is a dangerous situation. Road travel will not be a safer and pleasant experience if critical signs remain missing. Many accidents have, so far, occurred because drivers were not warned in good time about the presence of a black spot, such as a sharp bend ahead of them.

Road accidents are now a canker that appears to defy state intervention. In yesteryears this nation saw the worst road carnage on highways, a situation that prompted calls for speed governors on passenger busses.

Most of the accidents, it has been determined, stem from the recklessness of drivers, some of whom handle passenger buses without the least regard to safety. The rot must be stemmed.

The introduction of a six-month campaign which is aimed at reducing the road carnage rate by 10 per cent has surpassed the limit by 18 per cent in two months time, according to the Ministry for Home Affairs.

An evaluation was carried out two months before and after implementation had began and discovered the occurrence of 577 accidents before the programme and 471 after the programme.

Awareness on the use of roads was raised through 23 television programmes, 1,883 radio programmes and 311 Bodaboda stations whereas 18,892 motorcyclists were educated on the importance of road safety. However, awareness was also raised in 104 primary schools situated along the highways of which 477 lessons on the importance of road safety were taught to 8,081 students.

The issue of law enforcement, about 377 drivers were taken to task for various offences whereby 183 drivers had been taken to court of which 40 were sentenced, 154 drivers fined and 35 driver's licenses revoked.

It is on record that 1,775 drivers took the alcohol test and 76 had exceeded the required limit as per the requirement of the law.
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In ensuring implementation of the program, the National Roads Safety Council has established a special committee which will involve members of the councils to make regular follow up in the regions as well as improvise thorough investigation major accidents claiming the lives of a big number of people.

We believe that investigations will give room for proper action including serious measures against anyone who will be found to have caused an accident through reckless driving.