Road Safety: Second Week To Target Cargo Trucks, Taxis

The Gerayo Amahoro campaign will enter the second week this Monday with now focus shifting to cargo trucks and special hire taxi drivers.

The 52 week-long Gerayo Amahoro campaign loosely translated as ‘arrive safely’,  is a road safety campaign launched a week ago as part of the national efforts towards behavioural change to prevent fatalities road.

According to Senior Supt. Jean Marie Vianney Ndushabandi, the spokesperson for Traffic and Road Safety, on Monday, the campaign will be extended to cargo or heavy trucks drivers.

“Heavy trucks are among those that cause or involve in accidents; they fall under the national compulsory policy of use of speed governor,” SSP Ndushabandi said.

“So, we want to highlight to them their varied behaviours that put their lives and those of other road users at risk and thier responsiveness on road usage,” he added.

In most cases, trucks overturn after failing to negotiate corners due to speeding or lead to head-on collision with motorists from the opposite direction after overtaking in dangerous places.

As a policy, cargo and passenger sevice vehicles are subjected to compulsory use of speed governor with maximum speed regulated at 60km/hr.

The compulsory use of speed governor led to the reduction of road accidents by 20 percent, last year.

“On Wednesday, we will meet drivers of taxis (special hires). This is a group of motorists with a very low rate of accidents, nonetheless, as said, even a single loss of a life is many,” the spokesperson observed.

On Friday, Gerayo Amahoro campaign will be extended to pedestrians.

Rwanda Transporters Association chairman, Ndarubogoye Abdoul thanked #RwandaPolice for this road safety sensitization and promised that all truck drivers will continue to maintain good road behavior, help raise awareness and be a good example to other drivers. #GerayoAmahoro pic.twitter.com/jxM5sSEky6

— Rwanda National Police (@Rwandapolice) May 20, 2019

Pedestrians fall under categories of road users with high cases of involvement in accidents, either due to reckless use of the road or hit by vehicles, motorcycles and cyclists that violate traffic rules.

“In all the three categories of road users, there will be specific meetings across the country, on highways, use of social media, talkshows on various radios and TV channels,” SSP Ndushabandi said.

Last week, Rwanda National Police extended the road safety messages to students in various schools located near main roads, across the country.

New pedestrian crossing lines were put in place and old ones repainted.

Series of awareness activities have also been introduced.

The latest social media campaign on the risks of speeding and impaired driving, delivered messages such as ‘Speed Kills. Slow Down’.

The campaign, which includes radio and ambient advertising aims to raise awareness among motorists on the risks and potential consequences of speeding.

‘People need to know that speeding has consequences for all – the driver, passengers, pedestrians and motorcyclists. People’s lives are in the hands of drivers,’ said  SSP Ndushabandi.