A total of 78 pupils died and 182 others were seriously injured in seperate road accidents last year, a report by the police force road safety unit shows.
Assistant commissioner of police Fortinatus Muslim revealed this yesterday during a prize-giving ceremony for school chidren who won a road safety contest.
The event was sponsored by Puma Energy Tanzania Company.
Mr Muslim said over speeding and non-compliance with traffic rules by some drivers were the major factors behind the accidents.
“This figure is not good for us because our sons and daughters mainly due reckless driving by drivers who do not want to respect road signs,” he said.
“We will continue to work closely with other stakeholds like Puma to provide education on road safety in schools,” he added.
Mr Muslim said the police force has proposed for the amendment of some of the sections in the the road safety law in efforts to reduce the number of deaths of pupils in accidents.
Elaborating, he said the speed in areas near to the schools should be 30km per hour instead of 50 as it is the cas now.
He said police traffic would continue to educate pupils on various issues pertaining to road safety, especially when crossing the road.
For his part, Puma Energy Tanzania general manager Philippe Carsaletti said his company spent Sh54 million on the competition.
“We feel proud to be associated in campaigns designed to enlighten children on road safety.
We will continue to work closely with relevant authorities on all issues pertaining to road safety awareness,” he said.
According to Mr Carsaletti, this year’s competition was the second since the company started sponsoring the event.
He said the contest was meant to ensure that each school children gets an opportunity to learn and share ideas with others on road safety.
He said the winners were selected on merit.
“We are doing this because our children are very much vulnerable to road accidents due to reckless driving of some drivers. It is also our responsibility to work closely with the community to address these issues,” he said
During the event, over 10 children from five schools from three districts in Dar es Salaam were awarded various prizes.
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