Police put up more checkpoints to stem chronic road carnage

Police along the Dar es Salaam- Songea highway have established a number of checkpoints to inspect and control the speed of up-country buses in a bid to curb road accidents.

A survey conducted by The Guardian on Wednesday and Thursday witnessed a number of checkpoints at Dumila, Mikumi, Melela in Morogoro as well as Ilula, Kidegembasi and many more in between, with timetables of buses and the expected time of arrival through specific areas.

This reporter witnessed vehicle inspectors at Mikumi in Morogoro board buses to check braking systems, tires, indicators and gears before allowing vehicles to proceed.

Besides, traffic police questioned passengers whether they were comfortable with the speed.

In what appears to be a move to nab buses arriving at a certain checkpoint before the scheduled time, some drivers were fined 20,000/- and issued with receipts.

The deterrent has forced a number of drivers to drive at a minimum speed while some who felt were ahead of scheduled time stopped to buy time.

Asked on measures taken in case passengers were not happy with the speed, Morogoro Regional Police Commander, Thobias Andengenye, said police officers ordered the driver to drive to a nearby police post while they called the owner to send another driver.

Apart from that, the police issued a notification to the driver to pay mostly ranging from 20,000/- and above.

Commander Andengenye said: ``Passengers should not hesitate to inform the police about drivers who fail to observe road safety regulations.``

``They should also inform us in case our officers work against the laid down regulations because they are human and at times they may be unfair. We should jointly work together to curb road accidents.`` he added.

Morogoro Regional Traffic Officer, Amiri Kounja, when interviewed, called upon passengers to know their basic rights that include the right to receive a ticket bearing two names, seat number, vehicle number and showing where the bus is plying to and from to enable them claim their rights in case something went wrong.

The RTO said: �We now provide education to drivers to enable them introduce themselves to passengers before they start the trip.

They should also introduce their conductors while making sure they specify stop overs and the route to their destination.``

Kounja insisted that all passengers vehicle must ply with the first aid kits as well as emergency doors.

``Drivers must tell passengers the whereabouts of emergency doors, first aid kit to enable passengers know how to go about in case of emergency,`` clarified Kounja.

``Our duty is to make sure passengers get in and out of Morogoro safe. We have covered all areas to ensure passengers safety, �said Kounja.

He said that similar checkpoints were on Morogoro - Dodoma highway saying the said checkpoints were however not fixed at one point to nab drivers who sped passenger`s vehicles.

The move comes hardly a month after a series of road accidents claimed lives in Singida, Mbeya and Arusha region.