ROAD accidents have claimed lives of 30 schoolchildren in the past six months, injuring 68 others, according to Traffic Police statistics.
Traffic Police Commander Mohammed Mpinga
said over the weekend that the number of the killed pupils is part of
the total 1,580 deaths caused by road carnage. Mr Mpinga noted that for
the period between January and June this year there were 5,152
accidents.
He was speaking in Dar es Salaam during
an event to mark the end of road safety competition for pupils in the
city. Organised by the Puma Energy Tanzania Limited, the competition
involved 10 schools whereby a total of 25 pupils participated.
The winner of the competition was
awarded various school items and would travel to Geita Region to
participate in activities to mark the National Road Safety Week early
next month.
Mr Mpinga said the Traffic Police,
through their current strategy, is focusing on educating more the
children, old people and people with disabilities on how to cross the
road and observe other road safety measures.
“It is through such education that we
can save the lives of our schoolchildren. As we are starting another six
months, we should ensure that there is no death of pupil due to road
accident,” he pledged.
He added that the education would be
extended to the rural areas after learning that road safety awareness is
mainly done in urban areas. Puma Energy Tanzania General Manager
Philippe Corsaletti said; “road safety is part of our agenda.
We should focus on educating school
children since they are at risk most.” So far, the company has reached
30 schools whereby 38,600 pupils were educated over road safety rules.
‘We intend to reach all schools in the country, with support from the
local governments and Traffic Police,” he said.
Ilala Municipality Vocational Education
Officer, Ms Hellen Peter, said awareness on how to cross the road was
still low among the pupils, a situation which contributes to the deaths
of the school children in accidents.
“We need to strengthen efforts in
providing road safety education to the pupils,” she appealed. She also
called on extending such education to the children in rural areas
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