Accidents involving motorcyclists constitute 69 percent of all road accidents in the country, it has emerged.

The Head of Traffic Police, Chief Superintendent, Vincent Sano, speaking in an interview this week, largely blamed motorcyclists for over-speeding and dangerous manoeuvres between cars.

He said public transporters account for 23 percent of roads accidents, according to recent reports.

Last month alone, he said, about 140 motorcycles were impounded due to over speeding and bad manoeuvres which are among the major causes of road accidents.
"Generally road accidents have reduced but motorcycle riders have yet to embrace precautionary measures,” Sano said.

He said that driving while speaking on phone, less attention to road signs like zebra crossings, and other cases of reckless driving account for 63 percent of causes of road accidents.

Sano added that people between the age of 25 and 30 are the most affected motorists at the proportion of 26.2%, followed by those between 30 and 35 years (22.4%), while those aged between 40 and 50 account for 15 percent.

The traffic police chief noted that there has been an average of between 5 - 8 accident-related deaths every month, and between 38 - 45 cases of minor injuries. Between 12 and 15 cases were severe injuries.

It had been reported previously that one accident occurs every two and a half hours on Rwandan roads, almost all of which left people injured and 10% led to death.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) bulletin published in 2007, countries in the African Region have 40% more road deaths per 100,000. The worst rates of road traffic deaths in the WHO African Region are among the under-25s basing on WHO’s Youth and Road Safety report.

WHO’s 2006 African Regional Health Report held up Rwanda as an example of how African countries can improve road safety.

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