In an interview with the ‘Daily News’ in Dar es Salaam yesterday, Prof Mbarawa said he has directed SUMATRA to find a lasting solution to the carnage by enacting tougher road safety regulations.
According to the minister, the new regulations must impose sterner penalties on both drivers and bus owners. Prof Mbarawa told the ‘Daily News’ that the government, through police and SUMATRA, is well prepared to end road accidents. “We cannot allow this to continue.
We are losing innocent lives every day because of a few reckless drivers. This must stop,” Prof Mbarawa declared. He said SUMATRA must draft regulations that will instill a sense of responsibility among drivers and bus firms.
“It is obvious that the existing regulations are not tough enough to send a serious message to reckless drivers and bus owners. It is high time we came up with something more serious to deal with this problem,” he pointed out.
On Tuesday, police and SUMATRA banned 15 buses owned by four companies from operating for flouting road safety regulations. Twelve out of the 15 buses are owned by City Boy Company while the remaining three go by the Super Samy, Ota and Mohammed Trans trademarks.
The decision was reached following the recent wave of road accidents that has claimed hundreds of lives and left many others maimed. According to SUMATRA, the suspended buses will be allowed to resume operation upon submitting a comprehensive report confirming that the vehicles in question meet the required standards.
SUMATRA Director General Mr Gilliard Ngewe said in Dar es Salaam yesterday that his office has already formed a team to draft new regulations, which he will present to the minister for further action.
“We had a serious talk with the minister on the state of road accidents in the country. He has given us directives, which we have started implementing,” he said.
According to Mr Ngewe, the Minister proposed the new regulations to ban drivers and buses’ firms that violate traffic rules from operation for one year. He said at the moment there is no regulation that indicates specific time for SUMATRA to ban buses and drivers from operating after causing accidents or violating other traffic rules.
According to the SUMATRA boss, the new regulations, if approved, will enable the authority to mete appropriate punishment within a specified period of time. “We are looking forward to receive a document from the team next week.
The document will be forwarded to the minister who will then take it to the Attorney General for other legal procedures,” said Mr Ngewe. He observed that the new regulations aim at punishing reckless drivers and irresponsible transport firms, with the purpose of saving lives and ensuring that traffic rules are strictly observed.
“At the moment, passenger service companies are allowed to resume operations upon submitting a comprehensive report confirming that the vehicles in question meet set standards,” he elaborated.
The SUMATRA boss pointed a blaming finger at bus owners for not considering professionalism when hiring drivers. He said in recognition of poor training among most of bus drivers in the country, SUMATRA came up with a proposal that wanted drivers to go back to school. But in response, drivers downed tools demanding the reversal of the requirement for them to go back to school.
“The drivers refused to go back to school. We are experiencing accidents because most of drivers are poorly-trained,” he stressed. Last week, at least 11 people were killed and 44 others injured in two separate road accidents, which occurred along Morogoro- Dodoma Highway at Dakawa-Veta in Morogoro Region. The accidents involved a passenger bus christened ‘Otta Classic’ and two trucks, which were involved in a head-on collision. On Monday, two City Boy Company buses collided headon along Maweni-Kintinku Road in Manyoni District, Singida Region.
At least 30 people perished and dozens others wounded. According to statistics by the traffic police, there were 3,969 deaths from road accidents countrywide in 2012; 4,002 in 2013 – and 3,760 in 2014. Between January and April, 2016, at least 970 people perished and other 2,470 were injured in road mishaps.
The total number of road accidents in 2012 was 23,578; 23,842 in 2013 and 14,360 in 2014.
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