AS drivers continue to complain over frequent penalties imposed by traffic police even for pardonable errors, law enforcers have made their position, saying it is not their duty to educate any person who is qualified to drive.
With the stance maintained by traffic
police, drivers will definitely continue to bear the brunt of law
enforcers’ wrath, as, according to them, such a noble duty is supposed
to be performed by instructors and teachers at driving schools.
Exclusively speaking to the ‘Sunday
News’ over the weekend, Traffic Police Commander, Senior Assistant
Commissioner of Police (SACP), Fortunatus Musilimu, said the role of
traffic police was to enforce laws, rules and regulations when on duty
on the road, not to educate drivers.
“At no point of time traffic police will
put aside their core duty of enforcing laws, rule and regulations while
on the road and instead embark on offering road safety education to
drivers,” SACP Musilimu insisted.
The head of the traffic police
department acknowledged receiving complaints from drivers on fines
imposed on them even for pardonable errors they committed.
SACP Musilimu placed the burden on
driving schools that keep on emerging every day, saying such
institutions were duty bound to ensure they produced drivers who are
competent enough to thoroughly follow road safety laws, rules and
regulations.
According to him, some driving schools
lacked qualified instructors and teachers, a factor that contributed to
production of half-baked drivers.
“When it comes to enforcing laws, rules
and regulations on the road, we don’t have any other option because we
know that every person on the driving wheel is a competent driver, who
has attended and graduated in driving courses,” he added.
However, SACP Musilimu loosened his
stance on the subject, saying traffic police were ready to offer road
safety education to drivers but on certain conditions.
“We are ready to offer road safety
education to drivers, but for that to be feasible one must leave her/his
vehicle at home and come to us. Strictly, we won’t educate anybody on
the road,” he said.
According to him, they have, at
different occasions, been conducting road safety campaigns and
programmes almost every year, but some have not been taking them
seriously.
SACP Musilimu said that in the past
laws, rules and regulations governing road safety were not judiciously
enforced, saying “now that we have become more serious, motorists should
not misunderstand us.”
Responding to claims that traffic police
were only bent on collecting revenue, a core function performed by
Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), SACP Musilimu said: “The government
never depends on money collected from penalties imposed to non-law
abiding people.”
“Very unfortunately people think money
collected from penalties imposed on drivers is one of the dependable
sources of government income. This is utterly wrong.
The government will continue to function
properly even when we record zero traffic offences in a month,” he
said. SACP Musilimu insisted that traffic police will continue to
tighten the noose for drivers who violate road safety laws, pointing out
that an increase in number of recorded traffic offences was an
indication of proper and strict enforcement of road safety laws, rules
and regulations.
According to the traffic police head,
drivers who committed minor traffic offences were liable to 30,000/-
fines, but those who committed serious traffic offences, such as causing
accidents were taken to court, including revoking their driving
licences upon found guilty.
Data released to the ‘Sunday News’
showed that the number of offences committed by drivers from January to
August, this year, stands at 1,653,145, an increase of 282,982 traffic
offences, equivalent to 20.65 per cent from 1,370,163 cases recorded
during the same period last year.
However, SACP Musilimu refrained from divulging the amount of money collected from the penalties.
Director for Future World Driving
School, located in Temeke District, Dar es Salaam Region, Mr Robert
Mkolla supported SACP Musilimu’s stance on the subject, saying it was
illogical and against the law for traffic officers to start instructing
drivers on the road.
He told the ‘Sunday News’ that road
safety education needed much attention and as it was taking on board
many aspects, including protection of people’s lives.
Mr Mkolla said the increase in traffic
offences in the country was contributed by presence of fake or
unqualified driving schools, urging relevant authorities to immediately
react.
“Some of the registered schools lack
proper trainers to offer effective road safety education, as a result we
end up having poorly trained drivers,” he said.
According to Mr Mkolla, studies
conducted in 2013 show that vehicle ownership in developed countries is
80 per cent and 20 per cent in African countries, but road accidents in
developed countries stand at 44 per cent while in Africa they account
for 56 per cent,” he said.
“Ignorance, recklessness and
carelessness are main causes of road accidents but, while recklessness
and carelessness are to be tackled by law enforcers, ignorance is a
typical academic issue that needs training,” he said.
He was of the view that driving school owners should support the traffic police by producing competent drivers.
On the other hand, he said, traffic
police department should regularly inspect driving institutions to
ensure only the qualified ones are operating.
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