Traffic Police Commander Mohammed Mpinga

Traffic Police Commander Mohammed Mpinga yesterday revealed latest statistics of road accidents, saying the records are generally worrisome.

Briefing journalists in Dar es Salaam ahead of Easter celebrations expected at the end of this week, he said between January and February 3688 accidents occurred, which claimed 603 lives and injured 3026 people.

However, he said, the trend showed that there was a slight reduction in the number of accidents as more accidents were recorded last year over the same period compared to this year.

According to him, a total of 4080 accidents were recorded in January and February, 2011 during which 530 people lost their lives and 3227 others sustained injuries.

Mpinga said accidents caused by motorcycles between January and February were 813, which caused 159 deaths and 815 injuries, while over the same period last year, 1043 accidents happened.

He said the problem of roads accident has become chronic around the world as statistics around the world shows that approximately 1.3 million people are killed in traffic accidents every year.

Mpinga also said that many years, traffic accidents have been acknowledged by the United Nations as a considerable challenge to the achievement of health and development goals.

In 2008, the Commission for Global Road Safety called for a global road safety decade. This idea was formalised in the Declaration which resulted from the First Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety, hosted by the Government of the Russian Federation in November 2009. The Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011–2020 was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in March 2010.

The United Nations resolution A/RES/64/255 sets the goal for the Decade "to stabilize" and then reduce the forecast level of road traffic fatalities around the world by increasing activities conducted at the national, regional and global levels.

The resolution calls on all Member States to set road safety targets to be achieved during the Decade. While governments are expected to lead on the implementation of activities, the resolution specifically calls for a multi-sectoral approach that includes academia, the private sector, civil society, the media, victims and their families.