By Abela Msikula
Road
accidents can be reduced to a considerable extent if all road users
know the Highway Code and respect road traffic rules and regulations.
Traffic or road signs provide information to road users so that each knows what to do, how and when.
Before any road user does anything, they have to ensure what they want to do is safe, legal and
convenient.
So, it is good to
ask three questions: Is it safe? Is it legal? Is it convenient? If the
answer is "Yes" for all three questions, then one can move on the road
or cross it without inconveniencing any other road user.
At zebra crossings drivers are directed to stop even if nobody is crossing although some drivers seem to defy the rule.
Dar es Salaam
Institute of Technology Company Limited (DITCL), a product of Dar es
Salaam Institute of Technology (DIT), has introduced a pedestrian
traffic control technology that will be fixed at all road junctions
countrywide.
The technology will
be applied soon in Mwanza Region on Musoma Road. It allows pedestrians
to command a vehicle to stop by pressing a special button and make the
traffic lights allow them to cross at the road junction.
"The new
technology, which is still on a pilot project, commands vehicles tostop
for 30 seconds," said DITCL Director General Joseph Challo recently in
an interview with this reporter.
"This is the first
ever technology in Tanzania to value pedestrians and support road safety
stakeholders to curb road accidents. However, we have considered
fairness by setting a specific timeframe for pedestrians to cross.
Vehicles cannot move before 30 seconds after the pedestrian's button was
pressed. But pedestrians cannot stop vehicles once the time set is
over," the director said during an interview with 'Daily News' in Dar es
Salaam last week.
The six-month pilot
project will be over at the end of next month. The project has already
been handed over to Tanzania National Roads Agency (Tanroads) and awaits
approval for DITCL to start technology dissemination countrywide.
"We worry nothing
about the approval since Tanroads announced the tender and we competed
with many local and foreign companies and emerged the winner. Only our
competitive power shows that we are perfect and fit to disseminate the
technology," he stressed.
He added that,
winning the tender encouraged the company to continue introducing the
technology to other regions in both Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar.
Some of the
municipal councils have already shown interest in the new technology and
directed DITCL to submit important information, including the Bill of
Quantities (BoQ ) so that the plan could be included in their budget.
Mr Challo was
quoted as saying that, despite showing the interest, still there was a
need to float tenders to let the company compete for and run the project
through official procedures.
Apart from the technology, DITCL also introduced traffic lights on Musoma Road, which control three vehicle lanes at a time.
It is also the first technology in Tanzania, according to Mr Challo, specifically for controlling traffic jams in the city.
From morning to
afternoon hours (6am to 3pm), the two lane show green light, allowing
vehicles, which go to the city centre, while a single lane is for those
coming from the city centre.
Automatically, the
technology changes itself in the afternoon and lets lights control the
opposite two lanes, where the traffic lights turn into green, allowing
those coming from the city and one for those going to the city centre.
There is always a blinking umber colour at the traffic light point to signalise a driver, who is approaching the road junction.
According to the
director general, the company had a lot of new cheap and affordable
technologies to solve problems in society, but faces financial
constraints to put products in the market.
He, therefore,
urges the government to support the company as other governments have
been doing for their companies operating in Tanzania.
Mr Challo commented
it was not necessary for the government to give money to the Company,
but to act as a guarantor to enable it to access either free interest or
soft loans from financial institutions.
Product
commercialisation will also promote students' talents since they will be
able to speed up innovations because their products are marketable.
DIT Principal, Prof
Preksedis Ndomba, said despite the fact that DIT kept on seeking
various sponsors to support commercialisation, still government support
was needed to make it fully attain such a goal.
He said once
empowered, there was a possibility for each invented technology to have
its own factory, the step that would support industrialisation,
encouraging self-employment, while promoting local made products and
contributing to the national economy.
Prof Ndomba
stressed: "Our students come up with new invention almost every day. We
have machines for textile factories, for leather processing activities
as you can see these footballs, shoes and handbag products. There are
new technologies for agricultural activities, including irrigation and
spraying pesticides as well as technologies for mining activities, to
mention just a few inventions."
According to him,
solving problems in society is possible because normally, all invented
technologies at DIT are cheap and affordable for every class of people.
He called on
potential industrialists and other investors to visit DIT, observing how
the technologies could facilitate investment.
He further revealed
that DIT alumni, who had been engaging in entrepreneurship were good
examples of the way creativity/inventions had been encouraging
self-employment and promote local products, solving problems in society
on top of improving people's living standards.
They (alumni) have
been also collaborating with DIT to compete for big tenders, against
other competitors, a step is part of their (alumni) corporate social
responsibility.
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