President Samia Suluhu Hassana has issued key directives to intensify measures in ensuring the country's roads are safe, stressing on making the issue a national agenda. The measures include the need for a scientifically based road safety management research, use of social media to raise awareness among the youth and employing modern systems in vehicle inspection, among others.

The Head of State issued the directives in Arusha, on Tuesday while launching the Road Safety Week, adding that it was devastating to see the lives of people especially the youth being claimed in road crashes. Although the government has invested much in the country's road infrastructure, the youth are the main victims of these crashes despite a recorded slowdown in the number of accidents. "The statistics which have been presented here do not paint a good picture for our country... Over 90 percent of the accidents are as a result of human errors, speeding, reckless driving, overtaking and not wearing helmets or seat belts," said President Samia.

She added that: "Using scrap or worn out vehicles contribute to 3,2 percent of all accidents and bad weather such as fog, dust, smoke and slippery roads (1,3 percent), from these figures show that. Similarly, the statistics have shown that motorcycle riders famously known as "bodaboda" are the largest group, who are responsible for the accidents. In five years' time, a total of 2,220 motorcycle riders have lost their lives and 4,202 others injured due to road crashes. On average the country has lost 445 youths each year and hospitalized 850 patients due to bodaboda accidents."

As such, the President directed the Police countrywide to place more emphasis on educating the bodabodas, citing that the group should nor remain behind on awareness sessions to be enlightened on the matter. She outlined other groups who were earlier identified including private car drivers (535 accidents), trailer trolleys (209), and passenger buses (148) and 142 accidents for daladala. "I am pleased to learn that the number of road accidents have gone down due to the massive awareness campaigns carried out by the Police through the various media outlets including radio, television among other means," she stated.

Besides using ordinary media platforms, the President directed them to embark on social media use to capture the attention of the youth, who are the most affected group in the country. Another area which requires attention is investing on scientific research for the scourge to acquire a well-tested solution to overcome the problem. She urged them to collaborate with colleges, universities, vocational colleges and transport institutions to embark on a scientifically based road safety management research.

"The Police should be helpers to the public and not a nuisance to the people, when people see them... They should run to them and not try to avoid them. In some instances accidents are caused by the bodabodas, because when they see Traffic Officers in their uniforms they immediately try to escape the scene," said President Samia. She directed the IGP to probe into the matter of most youth who have completed their police training wanting to be traffic officers or to be attached at the ports.

"The issue of road safety should be placed as a national agenda in every platform and involve all stakeholders, because the matter is a critical development agenda."

On the other hand, she disclosed a call from the private sector collaborating with the government in carrying out vehicle inspections, but no desirable conclusion had been reached. She, thus, called upon the Police Force, TEMESA and the Ministry of Works and Transport among others to embark on the issue of vehicle inspection, pointing out that if the task is done collaboratively with the private sector, the work will be done effectively.

"By engaging the private sector, you will be able to acquire the modern machines to facilitate smooth vehicle inspection allowing for a big number to be inspected as well as a boost in the revenues due to sale of stickers," she said. Earlier, the Traffic Police Commander Wilbrod Mutafungwa, disclosed that in the past four years between January and September road crashes dropped at an average of 36,6 percent (2018) to 15,5 percent this year.