{UAH} STRANGE THAT RWANDESE DRIVE TOO THESE DAYS

Road accident toll rises despite efforts to curb death and injury

An overturned truck lies on the roadside in Eastern Province, Rwanda.

PHOTO | CYRIL NDEGEYA |  NATION MEDIA GROUP

IN SUMMARY

·        The number of road accidents in Rwanda is rising despite ongoing efforts by the police to improve road safety, raising concern about the safety of passengers.

The number of road accidents in Rwanda is rising despite ongoing efforts by the police to improve road safety, raising concern about the safety of passengers.

According to statistics obtained from the University Teaching Hospital of Kigali (CHUK), the country’s second largest public referral hospital, at least 175 road accident victims were hospitalised in the emergency room while 49 deaths were reported.

The increasing road accident cases are largely attributed to careless riding and driving. This is in addition to disregard for traffic rules, with drivers and motorcyclists speeding.

According to Jeffrey Mugabo, who was recently involved in an accident, the motorcyclist who was carrying him was speeding.

“I blame both myself and the motorcyclist for the accident,” said Mr Mugabo, who is receiving treatment at the hospital. “Me, because I asked him to hurry as I was running late and him because he just rammed a lorry that was in front of us without noticing the tail lights signalling that it was about to stop.”

Between July 2014 and June this year, 2,168 patients were admitted in the emergency room with 406 fatalities reported. If this trend continues, the hospital will have received more than 2,000 accident victims by the end of the year.

The national motorbike association, Assetamorwa, which has branches across the country, has however accused drivers of ignoring motorcyclists on the road, leading to accidents.

Reckless riding

“The biggest cause of accidents by motorbikes is due to the fact that drivers of big cars tend to look down upon the riders and thus hit them,” said Celestin Gatera, the district chairperson of the Kicukiro chapter. “We, as an association, have raised this concern to the Senate and other high levels of authority.”

While he also blamed reckless riding among young motorcyclists aged 18 to 35, Mr Gatera expressed his concern over infrastructure, particularly narrow roads.

“The roads are fairly small and this increases the probability of accidents,” he said, adding that the association has reduced casualties by motorbikes.

However, Rwanda National Police has been stepping up measures to improve road safety, including the heavy deployment of traffic police officers after every 100 metres, enforcing the traffic law and ensuring the presence of road signs and markings.

Besides, RNP has been enforcing new and harsh penalties for traffic offenders over the past year.

 

 

EM

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