Speed governors have failed to check road
 
2005-07-09 07:30:57
By Ludger Kasumuni

	The Director General of Sumatra, Izrael Sekirasa (L), the Director of Transport and Communications,Batholomew Lufunjo (C), and Sumatra Chairman Peter Bakilana exchange views at the launch of the authority in Dar es Salaam yesterday. (Photo: Mroki Mroki)

The government has conceded that the directive to all public service vehicles to install speed governors had failed to curb road accidents.

Speaking at the launch of the Surface and Marine Transport Regulatory Authority (Sumatra) in Dar es Salaam yesterday, the Minister for Transport and Communication, Prof Mark Mwandosya, said the speed-governors scheme for PSV was a non-starter.

’We must admit that the speed governors regulations (for PSV) has not been successful. For a long time, we have been saying that the exercise was going on, but in practice we are yet to implement it,’ Prof Mwandosya said.

He directed Sumatra to carry out an in-depth scientific research on the problem and advise the government on alternatives for curbing road accidents, which have been on the increase.

The minister disclosed that between 1999 and 2004, 9,364 people were killed in 74,057 motor accidents, which also injured 71,481 others.

He said that, on the average 1,560 people die and 11,910 others are injured in road accidents every year.

He said that reckless driving accounts for 76 per cent of the accidents, while unroadworthy vehicles caused 16 per cent, and poor roads resulted in eight per cent of the accidents in the country.

The minister challenged Sumatra to win back public confidence by creating a level playing field in the transport sector.

He also challenged Sumatra to put in place a strong regulatory and institutional framework for monitoring sea and land transport, raise efficiency and the quality of transport services, and the establishment of transport statistics unit.

The Sumatra board chairman, Peter Bakilana, said the newly launched regulator needs co-operation from public to deliver.

Bakilana said that Sumatra faces many challenges, among them, putting in place a regulatory framework, tackling problems such as accidents and traffic congestion, and improving land and sea transport services.

Prof Mwandosya also commissioned the first Sumatra board of directors, which consists of retired Judge Buxton Chipeta, Bernard Mbakileki, Prof Salome Misana, Nicholaus Mbwanji, Mrs Mtaki and Sumatra director-general Israel Sekirasa.

Meanwhile, Pastory Nguvu, reports from Dodoma that the Parliamentary Committee on Defence and Security told the government yesterday that the national speed-governors project had failed to check the road carnage.

The speed-governors issue was raised in the House yesterday when Ireneus Ngwatura (Mbinga-East-CCM) read the committee’s statement on behalf of its chairman, John Malecela, during the tabling of the 2005/06 budget for the Ministry of Home Affairs.

’Since it is evident that speed-governors have failed to reduce the number of road accidents, the committee advises that undercover police officers travel on passenger buses to check over-speeding and overloading,’ Ngwatura said.

In addition, he said that the government must ensure that all passenger buses are inspected to weed out unroadworthy vehicles.

• SOURCE: Guardian