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Road accidents continue decimating lives
2006-11-03 08:59:49
By Walusanga Ndaki
As authorities grapple with the rise in road accidents, Dar es Salaam city continues to lead in this grisly phenomenon in the country.
According to data made available by the Dar es Salaam Road Safety Week Committee, approximately 3,557 road accidents occurred in the city between January and June this year where at least 190 people lost their lives and 2,488 were injured.
The committee’s statement also showed that countrywide over 7,332 road accidents occurred last year in which 383 people lost their lives while 3,158 were injured.
According to the same source the year 2004 witnessed some 7,418 road accidents which claimed 363 lives while those sustaining injures were 3,748.
”Many accidents were caused by reckless driving and a few of them were caused by passengers and pedestrians recklessness,” says the statement.
As for Dar es Salaam, data made available in September this year shows that over 500 died and 5,000 were injured in road accidents in the past 18 months – implying that an average of 28 people died per month or roughly per day.
The same report adds that the number of injured people in the said road accidents is overwhelming as between last year and June this year; some 10,889 road accidents were recorded in which 5,646 people were injured.
Among the country’s 26 regions, the report points, Dar es Salaam which has over 500,000 vehicles, has the highest number of motor accidents in the country, thus making the city the place with the highest statistics concerning road carnage.
Countrywide one of the notable, recent road carnage occurred at Igawa, Mbeya, where 11 people died when a passenger bus from Zambia burst its two front tyres leaving 30 others seriously wounded. This occurred about three weeks ago.
Another recent road accident which claimed the lives of six people leaving 52 injured, occurred along the Tunduru-Masasi road last month.
In September this year, 16 people lost their lives at Kongowe in Kibaha District, Coast Region, following an accident involving a passenger bus christened ”Champion’ which was heading to Dodoma from Dar es Salaam.
In most of the said accidents, reckless driving has been cited as the major cause for most of the road accidents. This forced the traffic police in Arusha Region to institute a heavy crackdown on defective vehicles and reckless drivers in June this year following an accident which claimed 57 lives when a speeding minibus plunged into a river, killing 54 people on the spot.
The minibus with a 26-passenger capacity had 74 passengers on board when it plunged into theMalala River at Uraki village in Arumeru District.
The accident was so shocking that President Jakaya Kikwete sent condolences to the bereaved families.
During the same week, more than 82 people perished in road accidents nationwide, including 28 people who died when a lorry they were travelling in overturned in Kagera Region.
The magnitude of road accidents seems to be on the increase as the transport network expands nationwide, with numerous vehicles appearing on the roads with people preferring to use buses to other means of travelling, hence enhancing the possibility of more accidents as the years go.
Earlier this year in February, for example, 15 people died and 50 were seriously injured in a bus accident that occurred at Kihonda, 10 kilometres from Morogoro town as a bus they were travelling in lost control after one of its front tyres burst forcing it to veer off the road and roll three times, ripping off its roof.
It is in this vein that the government was last year urged to set up a ministry of road safety as an alternative strategy to reduce road accidents in the country.
According to transport experts, the proposed ministry would help in reducing loss, amount to billions of shillings occasioned by frequent accidents.
”People are being killed due to road accidents, but we have no specific authority to take charge of this issue.
We think, the establishment of the road safety ministry is a good idea for our government,” said Estomihi Masoe, a senior lecturer from the University of Dar es Salaam during the National Transport Week.
He had been speaking at a meeting as part of activities to mark the Transport Week on the ”Challenges and Prospects of Road Safety Management in Tanzania”.
During the occasion it was reported that about 42 per cent of persons killed in road traffic accidents in 2003 were vulnerable road users – pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists – pedestrians making up the biggest number.
In 2000, according to transport experts, the country incurred a huge loss amounting to 172bn/- due to road traffic accidents which is equal to 2 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Produce (GDP) they said.
The experts add that the present annual costs to the country caused by road traffic accidents ranges between 100 and 200bn/-.
As the accidents continue decimating people’s lives in the country, observation has always shown that the government should draw up a road safety policy with the view to ensure provision of transport services with maximum safety and thus reduce road accidents.
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