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Time to act on bus body standards
2005-09-23 07:09:13
By Editor
Following the recent spate of accidents involving buses in which dozens of people lost their lives and scores others were injured, it has been established, albeit belatedly, that the poor quality of bus bodies is partly to blame for the staggering number of casualties.
Whenever accidents involving buses take place on our highways, newspaper readers and television viewers are treated to pictures of mangled wreckages which make it difficult for one to believe that there were any survivors.
Bus bodies, which are supposed to offer a considerable measure of protection in case of an accident, are usually torn apart or crushed like cardboard boxes on impact and the consequences are invariably disastrous.
We understand that the Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) has in place standards which bus bodybuilders are supposed to follow, but we doubt whether the vast majority of buses on our roads were built in accordance with the TBS benchmarks.
TBS has on a number of occasions admitted that it is almost impossible to ensure that the standards are strictly adhered to.
We tend to agree for a number of reasons.
Among these are the fact that most bodybuilders have not applied for TBS certification and this is not surprising because they know that their workmanship is not up to the bureau’s standards.
There is also the increasing tendency by bus operators to prefer backyard garages where visually attractive, but very poor quality bodies are fitted onto chassis at a minimal cost in total disregard of the safety of passengers.
Some operators hire individual fabricators who build bodies whose quality is, needless to say, proportional to the low cost involved in their construction.
This is hardly surprising given Tanzanian bus operators’ penchant for keeping costs to a minimum while expecting handsome returns on their investments.
Making money is all well and good as this is what business is all about, but this must not be to the detriment of customers’ wellbeing.
It is against this background that we call on the government to intervene sooner rather than later.
Since accidents cannot be totally prevented, we feel that measures should be in place to ensure that the number of casualties is minimised when they do happen.
These include the enforcement of stringent rules pertaining to the quality of bus bodies, especially those built in the country.
TBS must also be empowered to ensure that its standards are strictly adhered to by bus operators and bodybuilders.
Buses imported into the country must also conform to these standards before being licensed to carry passengers.
Tanzania should borrow a leaf from South Africa where stringent bus bodybuilding standards are in place and the South Africa Bureau of Standards (SABS) sees to it that they are followed to the letter.
SABS standards cover almost every component of bus bodies, from seats, windows to materials used to construct the bodies and workmanship involved.
The result is that fewer people die in bus accidents in South Africa than in Tanzania although the two countries are roughly at par as far as the number of accidents involving public service vehicles is concerned.
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