EAST African Community (EAC) members states have seemingly agreed to disagree in their attempts to harmonise their traffic regulations.
When it comes to traffic regulations in
the EAC, Rwanda and Burundi drive on the ‘right,’ as Tanzania, Kenya,
Uganda and South- Sudan stand accused of driving on the ‘wrong’ side of
the road.
It was previously proposed to Rwanda and
Burundi to change their driving system to the majority members’ driving
left, but a commissioned study has ruled out the possibility.
“We commissioned the Bureau of
Industrial Cooperation (BICO) of the University of Dar es Salaam to
carry out a study on the harmonisation of traffic regulations among EAC
member states,including driving sides,” Director of Economics with
Kenyan Ministry of EAC Affairs Peter Njoroge said here over the weekend.
He said the study concluded that
compelling all member states to drive on one side of the road was
impossible because the shift will cost the affected countries billions
of money in changing, or totally overhauling their transport
infrastructure.
Previously, Rwanda had expressed
interest in directing motorists to drive on the left side of the roads
but following the study’s conclusion, Kigali may no longer need to
bother.
Three years ago, while attending the
17th East African Standards Committee (EASC) conference here, the Deputy
Director General of Rwanda Bureau of Standards, Mr Patrice Ntiyamira
revealed his country’s plans to shift to the left.
Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda drive on the
left side of the road having inherited the system from their former
Anglophonic rulers while the Francophone Rwanda and Burundi maintained
their culture to drive right.
Motorists operating in the EAC member
countries find themselves ‘driving on the wrong sides of the road,’
whenever crossing onto other territories.
Driving on different sides of the road
is also proving to be expensive for Rwanda and Burundi, the two
land-locked countries that depend on Tanzania and Kenyan coastlines to
ship in their vehicles all of which, being destined for East Africa come
with the driving wheels fixed on the right.
Once in Rwanda or Burundi, the owners
are compelled to spend over 500 US dollars (about 1.2m/-) to shift the
cars’ driving systems from the right to the left to fit in the
right-side driving conditions.
Over 200,000 motor vehicles are imported into East Africa annually, excluding those assembled in country.
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