A bus in Arusha, designed to carry 26 people but was transporting 74 passengers, plunged into a river killing 54 people early this month. There will be national attention given to road safety for a few weeks but people will gradually forget as soon as the authorities have finished their investigations. On the same week, 28 people were killed and 12 others seriously injured when a truck they were travelling in overturned near Lusahunga, a village in north western Tanzania. Again in this case, a lorry was never designed to carry passengers.
According to Harvard University and the World Bank, Tanzania has the second highest road accident rate in the world after Ethiopia in terms of annual fatalities per licensed motor vehicles. Ethiopia has about 200 fatalities per registered motor vehicles whilst Tanzania has about 110. The government in the past has tried speed governors but that was only solving part of the problem. Policies towards road safety have to put into consideration other factors apart from speed like a driver’s competencies and regulation enforcement.
There have been little efforts for instance, in ensuring there is road safety training for public transport drivers. Unnecessary speed by untrained drivers is often the cause of many accidents. Most have never taken proper courses and we know from records that buses are the ones involved in most of the fatal accidents. If the government stepped up and made it mandatory for al l public transport drivers to a have a special license, it would help bring down the accident rates.
And the accidents seem not only confined to roads. After the MV Bukoba capsizing in 1996 killing nearly one thousand people in Lake Victoria, another ferry accident involving MV Nyamanga, recently cost the lives of 28 people. Both the boats were proved not to be seaworthy and had overloaded either people or cargo. In the recent incident, the ferry had been sidelined from operations since 2004.
The truth of the matter is that Tanzania has a poor record in safety measures. Public bodies are poorly funded and hence there is incapacity to formulate comprehensive policies. In comparison to developed countries, funding has not increased with increase in car use for instance. The investment disparity reflects that a low priority is given to traffic safety by our government.
But it is not only the government that has to improve. People’s attitudes towards road safety need to change. Leaving Dar es Salaam at 7.00 am and wanting to reach Arusha by 2.00 am is madness to say the least. Drivers who boast of how fast they drove should be scorned. Drinking under the influence of Cannabis, Khat and Alcohol should be frowned upon. Tired drivers should be encouraged to take a rest.
Road safety is a serious problem requiring a multitude of solutions. The challenge has to be taken head-on and Tanzanian roads might become one of the safest in Africa to travel on.