Emulate Tanzania on traffic control
Arusha, Tanzania, is fast becoming an attractive city in East Africa, not just because it hosts the headquarters of the East African Community, but also because it is close to iconic tourist attractions, including Mount Kilimanjaro.
And there is one more attraction about it – the way its traffic is controlled.
For the impatient, driving from Kilimanjaro airport to Arusha may be frustrating, because the drivers observe the very strict speed limits, usually between 40 and 50 kilometres per hour, with just a few sections where one may legally drive at 80km/h.
If a driver runs the lights or exceeds the prescribed speed limit, residents of Arusha will tell you that that driver will be nabbed perhaps eight times out of 10. If nabbed breaking traffic rules, one is fined Tanzanian Shillings 30,000. The penalty system is automated and it will be easy to tell, going by the number on the driver’s licence, how many times one has been penalised over time. For errant drivers who offend the rules a lot of times, it is possible to take the decision to even de-license them.
Residents of Arusha will tell you that it was not always that way. They say that when President John Pombe Magufuli took power, he demanded that an electronic billing system for traffic offenders be set up; and that was the game changer.
The policemen/women are very enthusiastic in enforcing the rules and, residents say, will every once in a while take bribes from offending drivers instead of subjecting them to the statutory penalty. But what is most important is that errant drivers very often get caught in Arusha, and we suppose other places in Tanzania. This keeps them in check and the results are in evidence on Tanzania’s roads.
We return to this subject because this week, again, nearly 10 people lost their lives in another traffic “accident” on the Iganga-Jinja Highway. The police have since said the driver of a commuter taxi that hit an oncoming coaster head-on was driving recklessly.
This is happening for the umpteenth time and human error is usually the cause that is cited.
This is why Uganda must find a way that works to keep errant drivers in check.
Studying how Tanzania managed to instil discipline on its roads, using a combination of automation, a measure of seriousness and inflicting not easily escapable financial penalties against errant drivers, may be a good starting point.
For drivers who are clearly errant, short prison sentences may do the trick. Where a tough approach has been used in Uganda, like on the Masaka-Kampala Highway which for long was notoriously prone to road carnage, change is in evidence. Let’s automate the system and make it more effective.
The issue: Road carnage.
Our view: Studying how Tanzania managed to instil discipline on its roads, using a combination of automation, a measure of seriousness may be a good starting point.
