MINISTER for Home Affairs, Engineer Hamad Masauni has directed the Police Force and National Road Safety Council (NRSC) to apprehend all buses without speed governors.
He issued the directive on Tuesday in Dodoma, while launching the NRSC, and stated that one of the causes of accidents in the country is speeding, which is caused by careless drivers who do not follow road safety laws.
“This operation should begin immediately because I issued instructions on the subject in March this year and gave bus owners until September of this year to ensure they have installed speed governors,” he said.
He added that a study conducted by the University of Dar es Salaam showed that 76 per cent of road accidents in the country were caused by recklessness, including speeding, 18 per cent by defective vehicles and 16 per cent by poor road infrastructure.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan has on several occasions cautioned all road users, including pedestrians to observe road regulations and avoid violating traffic rules.
Last year, at the beginning of National Road Safety Week in Arusha, President Samia stated that the government would provide modern equipment to traffic police in order to reduce the number of road fatalities.
She stated that modern equipment would improve road safety by making it easier to detect and arrest offenders.
For his part, Jumanne Sagini, Deputy Minister for Home Affairs and Chairman of the NRSC, stated that they will continue to provide road safety training for public leaders, including permanent secretaries and parliamentarians, in order to improve their ability to challenge events that lead to accidents.
And the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Transport, Atupele Mwakibete pledged to cooperate with the council and road safety stakeholders and solve the existing challenges.
In addition, Mwanza Regional Police Commander, Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police (SACP) Wilbroad Mutafugwa has said that NRSC since it was established to manage regional and district committees has helped including the proper use of funds derived from the inspection fees of various vehicles.
Article 96 of Road Safety Law Number 30/1973 Chapter 168 revised in 2002 has formed the NRSC under the Minister of Home Affairs.
The council’s main functions are to be the main body in charge of managing all activities to improve road safety and to use existing knowledge and experience about road safety, to encourage studies about accident causes, and to encourage statistical studies on the number, types, and costs of road accidents.
Others are using available research data to determine the causes of accidents and make recommendations on how to deal with the problem, identify accident indicators, design and recommend measures to be taken, and advise the relevant authorities to take action, as well as making recommendations to amend the road safety law in order to reduce road accidents.
