Discipline on roads will limit road accidents

In the recent annual police exercise to create public awareness about the need to observe traffic rules for road safety, taxi-motorists were cautioned against violating traffic regulations. This was after the police report revealed that taxi-motorists are the cause of most accidents that occur countrywide with more cases registered in Kigali. Police says that according to its findings, one person dies everyday as a result of misconduct on the roads. Addressing public transporters at the end of the exercise (Road Safety Week), the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Emmanuel Butera, called upon heads of public transport operators to adopt tight measures against reckless drivers as well as effective enforcement of the traffic law. Speaking to some road users especially those in the transport business, one realizes that the blame game amongst transporters calls for personal responsbility by every road user, in respecting the law if the rate at which road accidents claim lives can be minimized. As taxi-motorists tell their stories about drivers, taxi drivers operating from various areas of Kigali and up country also have their version. Samuel Byamukama, a taxi-motorist operating around Bank of Kigali at Kisement tells Sunday Times that, “Drivers do not respect taxi-motorists the way they do to their fellow drivers. They therefore drive without giving us any value.” With six years experience in the transport business, the motorcyclist notes that some road users respect the law only in the presence of a traffic officer. However, mini-car drivers put the blame on heavy truck drivers while several pedestrians interviewed at random consider some drivers to be undisciplined on the road. A special hire driver operating at UTC, Alex Mutabazi says that, “Some heavy truck drivers believe they are superior on the road.” He adds that there are always disagreements when mini-car drivers intend to overtake heavy truck drivers. “Even when you indicate that you want to overtake, these people are very reluctant in giving way, and others are very dangerous to the fact that they only give way when there is another car from the opposite direction hence causing accidents,” he says. However, Samuel Bugingo, a heavy truck driver attached to Onatracom public transport company, said mini-car drivers underestimate the task of driving and controlling heavy trucks. “Sometimes these drivers do not consider the problems in driving heavy trucks. They only consider their demands but not the effect if way is given like in a sharp corner,” Bugingo says. He notes that some accidents occur because of the mentality that one has been denied the right to over take hence overtaking at a wrong time. “Personally, I do not find any problem with a mini-car driver overtaking me because we are not in a race.” In an interview with the president of Ferwacotamo-a federation of taxi-motorists, Simon Peter Urimubenshi, highlighted on the measures being undertaken to ensure road safety by members of the federation. “We have embarked on training our members and so far, 1656 members have undergone training on road safety rules,” Urimubenshi explains. He points out that all taxi-motorists countrywide will undergo the same training pointing out that some go against traffic rules because of ignorance. However, he notes that the rise of accidents caused by taxi-motorists in Kigali is highly attributed to those operators coming from upcountry to operate in the city without enough experience. “As soon as these people get their permits, they rush to the city where they expect to earn more from their operations but not considering their ability.” Urimubenshi, warned taxi-motorcyclist against working for long hours saying it may also contribute to accidents. A secondary student at Lycee de Kigali, Johnson Binamungu, says that all public transporters are equally important but urged them to respect each other. “Blaming one another is not a solution to the problem. Private and public transporters should abide by the law as well as respecting each other to keep our roads safe.” He also urges fellow students to take care when crossing roads especially during rush hours like early in the morning and during lunch time. Ends