Road accidents: A menace in need of urgent action

By Simbarashe Msasanuri
The cloud of death continues to hang over the country’s roads, plunging the nation into mourning as more innocent lives are perishing unabated despite efforts to curb the anomaly. This week alone and on Monday to be specific, more than 26 people were reportedly killed in several accidents that occurred throughout the country.
Thirteen people out of 14 who were travelling in a Toyota Noah died on the spot when their vehicle was involved in a head-on collision with a haulage truck at Isuna Village along the Singida-Dodoma highway.
A sombre mood gripped the village as a mangled shell of the vehicle, human flesh and various luggage were strewn all over at the accident scene. The area was stinking of death and covered bodies of the victims could be seen lying all over the place, some of them visibly mutilated.
According to Singida Regional Police Commander, Mr Geofrey Kamwela, the ill- fated Noah was travelling from Singida while the truck, which carried fresh fish, was on its way to Dar es Salaam from Mwanza.
To make matters worse, the driver of the truck and his assistant vanished from the scene after the accident that is blamed on speeding and reckless driving.
As if that was not enough, another accident claimed 13 people, injuring 25 after an Al Hamdullilah bus travelling from Dar es Salaam to Mtwara overturned after the driver failed to control the vehicle. Again, the accident is blamed on speeding and recklessness.
On the same day, six vehicles were involved in an accident in Mbeya, when a truck rammed onto stationery vehicles. Luckily no one was reportedly killed in the accident. These are just but some of the accidents that gripped the country that day with many others going unreported.
The incidents saw President Jakaya Kikwete sending condolence messages to the Singida Regional Commissioner, Mr Parseko Kone, on the demise of 13 people including an infant.
The time has come, and the time is now when Tanzanians should join hands and say enough is enough on our roads. The situation is unacceptable as dozens of lives continue being lost on our roads. In fact, our major highways have been turned into killing grounds where upcountry bound buses and vehicles continuously claim lives of our beloved ones.
 What pains most is that most of these accidents are attributed to human error. Despite innocent people continuing to perish like poisoned cockroaches on our roads, it is surprising that drivers carry on dicing with death, putting the lives of their passengers at risk.  Speeding has been blamed as one of the common causes of these accidents and our drivers continue being defiant despite the presence of sign posts and notices along the highways that remind them that speed kills.
Though it might remain true that the distances these drivers have to cover per day are long, that is no excuse for speeding as the common saying that “It is better to be late than to be the late,” comes in handy.
The government should come up with a permanent solution to this problem and bus drivers should be compounded to retrain after a certain given period and in doing so, the message of safe driving should be emphasized. This is so because most drivers have a notion that driving is synonymous with speeding.
This has seen some bus operators putting stickers on their buses that encourage speeding or to show how their buses fly. “Flying Bird”, “King of the Road” and “Shaver” just but to mention a few, are some of the stickers on some buses meant to show off their capabilities. It is against this background that some buses are notorious for speeding in areas they operate. But, the end result is obvious and painful.
 It is high time such stickers or any message that encourages speeding be removed from buses, and any other vehicle be it private or commercial, as they encourage drivers to live up to their names.
It seems we never learn from our mistakes. We continue to come across overloaded buses and vehicles that will be speeding despite a number of fatal accidents having occurred on the roads.
 Just like HIV/AIDS, many people believe that road accidents don't affect them in any way until they become victims or after they lose their loved ones. The fact that you have never been involved in accident for the past 40 years or so you have been on this earth, while you commute daily to and from work, does not mean that you are immune to it.
 This is the same attitude our drivers adopt. They think that if they have been driving buses for the past 10 or so years, and sometimes driving overloaded buses and at the same time speeding and getting away with it, then they can deliberately ignore road regulations in the name of experience.
 This in most cases has seen people dying on our roads because days are not the same and when a mishap happens it will be too late as some passengers lose their lives while others are injured.
 Bus operators should be compelled to use strict timetables to avoid delays that will force them to speed. Failure to adhere to timetables should come with deterrent penalties. Above all, wananchi should play a pivotal role in making sure that drivers don't dice with their lives. The general public should be empowered to the extent of commanding the driver to stop the bus or even a private vehicle and have another driver take over.
 For how long shall we continue helplessly watching as our beloved ones perish on our roads? Life is precious to an extent that we do not have second chances of resurrecting soon after death, so let's preserve it. Just as an old age says it's better to be late than to be the late. Let's drive safely to arrive alive.
Ends

Protection of roads vital to spearhead development

By Simbarashe Msasanuri
Though Africa is considered a dark continent, there are many things that make it a marvel of many. Despite boasting of a rich culture it has languages that are inextricably interwoven with cultural values and norms. And, one such language is Kiswahili that is widely spoken in this country. Kiswahili, like any other language on the continent has many adages that are pregnant with meaning, and are usually used to express a point.

And, one such is Kuvuja kwa pakacha nafuu kwa mchukuzi (the leaking of a basket is relief to the one carrying it). The saying rightly applied to the recent stand-off between the government and truck owners.  The Tanzania Truck Owners Association (TATOA), who were briefly supported by the Tanzania Bus Owners Association (TABOA), last week embarked on a complete boycott following 48 hours of go slow. They parked their vehicles over a standoff that resulted from the scrapping of the five percent allowable weight waiver on excess cargo carried by trucks at weighbridges.

The Minister for Works, Dr John Magufuli, stood by his decision to scrap the waiver and is premised on the fact that overloading of the trucks is destroying the country’s roads. He, however, told the truck operators that if they want to stage a boycott, then they should park their trucks at home, before saying that the roads will be smiling over haulage trucks’ absence.

The stand-off undoubtedly had a negative impact to the economy of the country, besides discrediting Dar port to those who use it to get their transit goods as they were forced to pay extra costs in terms of storage and delays in clearance.  

But, just like the above mentioned adage that ‘the leaking of a basket is a relief to the one carrying it,’ there are some people who benefiting from the problem.  The problem of traffic jams for the period the road was ‘smiling’ had temporarily been solved. Traffic flow along Mandela road Expressway and Morogoro road was smooth owing to the absence of haulage trucks that usually dominate the roads, creating massive traffic jams.

The residents of Mbezi, Kimara and other surrounding areas, together with those using the Nelson Mandela Expressway, had a field day as they could travel to and from those areas without traffic jams. In fact, the occurrence has proved that trucks are major contributors when it comes to traffic jams.  And, this should give our city fathers an idea as to how they can reduce traffic jams in the city. However, the honeymoon was cut short as the Prime Minister, Mr Mizengo Pinda intervened to restore the allowable five per cent excess weight at weigh bridges, pending discussions for a permanent solution to the contentious issue, marking the end of the standoff.

The premier directed his office, the Ministries of Works, Transport, Industries and Trade as well as the Attorney General’s office to form a joint team and meet representatives of Tanzania Truck Owners Association (TATOA) and Tanzania Bus Owners Association (TABOA) and come up with a proposal for a permanent solution.

And, it will be in the best interest of the country if the solution to be arrived at as per the premier’s directive will put in place measures to adequately protect the roads. This is so because frequent users of our major highways can bear testimony that major roads connecting the country with other countries such as the Dar es Salaam- Tunduma highway are constantly under repair because of these overloaded vehicles.

There are some parts of the road that have given in to overloading to such an extent that there are contours and ridges along the road.  These can be noticed when one travels by road from Dar es Salaam to Tunduma.  But for the past year or so, most sections of the highway have been under rehabilitation. The roads have been resurfaced and the exercise is still continuing around Mafinga area.

The new road and those areas that have been rehabilitated need to be protected from these monsters, failure of which they won’t last. Overloading on our roads has for eons been our number one enemy and it should be curbed.

Setting aside the mudslinging, accusations and counter accusations between the ministry and truck owners, the fact remains that a permanent solution has to be found not only for the stand-off, but for the protection of roads. This is so because bad roads are also a source of death to many users as accidents become an order of the day.  Many innocent lives continue being lost on our roads as people continue to perish like poisoned cockroaches on our major roads, due to accidents, some of which are cause by road defects.

It is true that so many people were affected by the stand-off and a permanent solution has to be found to save the economy and business people’s pockets but whatever decision to be made, it should be that which protects our roads. If the scrapping of the five percent is problematic, then the government should reduce the maximum weight the lorries are allowed to carry over our roads. This is so because maintenance of roads is capital intensive hence continuous resurfacing will gobble funds that could be used in other developmental projects.

This, therefore, means that the government should intensify measures that protect the roads so that they can last longer. In this way, it will be easy to spearhead development in the country as good and reliable roads promote smooth movement of goods and people.