Road accidents claimed over 300 lives in 2012

308 lives were lost last year in road accidents according to the 2012 police accidents report. Speaking to Sunday Times, the police spokesman, Superintendent, Theos Badege revealed that in 2012, the deaths recorded represented a reduction of 21 percent from 392 that were registered in 2011.Badege said May recorded the most deaths with 44 deaths followed by July with 42. Less deaths were recorded in June (23) and April (24).Badege said that most accidents are a result of negligence and over speeding. “Accidents are preventable if we all respect the rules and regulations and if we all do it will save many lives,” Badege said, urging all road users to respect traffic rules. In a related development, traffic police have released over 100 taxi motorcycles that were impounded last year in Kigali. Badege emphasised that fines will be enforced if commercial motorcyclists are caught in the wrong again. “The traffic police will not hesitate to penalise anyone who doesn’t respect traffic regulations. We shall arrest or penalize whoever drives without a helmet, driving license or overloading,” Badege said.Motorcyclists’ speak outMotorcyclists whose motorcycles were impounded have raised concerns saying that Police harasses them. “I was transporting a lady with her two packages from a super market and a traffic officer claimed her baggage was too much and I was penalised,” said Innocent Niringiyimana .“This should be revised and we should be aware of how much baggage should be carried”.