KIGALI - A total of 277 traffic accidents were registered across the country since the beginning of this year, with 72 per cent of them in the City of Kigali, the head of traffic police said yesterday.

Vincent Sano said that 13 percent of the accidents were serious. More than 70 percent of the registered vehicles are in Kigali city.

Compared to last year, the  traffic accidents have reduced by 27.1 percent from 380 registered during the same period.

"The death rate reduced to 0.87 percent this year. The rate of traffic accidents also decreased from between eight and 10 last year to between seven due to several strategies that were laid to curb down traffic accidents,” Sano said.

Injuries also reduced to between four and five from seven and eight per day, last year, he added.Sano, disclosed that this year’s road safety week will start June 6.

"We are planning to hold it every three months to further curb down the rate of traffic accidents,” Sano said.

 He noted that this year’s safety week would target four major causes of accidents -over-speeding, reckless and drunk driving.

"We will also sensitise the public (drivers and pedestrians) on how to abide by the law so that we can reduce on accidents, especially caused by over-speeding,” he explained.

The traffic chief noted that since the start of the road safety campaign, deaths registered via motorcyclists had reduced. Formally, they contributed to the highest number of motor accidents.

"This was as a result of the implementation of strategies, such as arrests and meting relevant punishments, especially those who did not wear helmets. With this campaign, we hope it will be further reduced,” he said.

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