The surging fatalities have prompted legal experts to urge immediate amendments to Tanzania’s Road Traffic Party. Photo: Courtesy
By James Kamala
Dodoma – Tanzania faces a growing road safety crisis as activists call for tougher laws to protect pedestrians and address rising traffic fatalities. Reckless driving, including speeding, drunk driving, and distracted driving, continues to claim innocent lives.
Activists argue that outdated laws and inadequate enforcement are exacerbating the problem, urging immediate reforms to ensure accountability and safeguard vulnerable road users across the nation.
Recent reports reveal that road accidents now claim more lives than diseases like malaria, HIV, and tuberculosis, with pedestrians bearing the brunt of these avoidable tragedies.
Reckless driving, including speeding, drunk driving, and distracted driving, is frequently cited as the root cause of these incidents.
A harrowing example occurred in Dodoma on November 3, 2024, when a Toyota RAV4 hit multiple pedestrians, reportedly killing six people, including three university students, a pregnant woman, and two motorcycle taxi riders. Witnesses alleged the driver, who was intoxicated, lost control, striking victims across several kilometers.
Dr. Biita Muhanuzi, an emergency medicine expert at Muhimbili National Hospital, highlighted that motorcyclists and pedestrians account for the majority of road accident victims.
Most of those affected are children and young adults, with recklessness and disregard for traffic laws identified as major factors.
Even law enforcement officers, tasked with ensuring road safety, have not been spared. On November 23, 2024, a police officer in Kibaha was fatally struck by a vehicle while returning home from a social gathering.
The increasing fatalities have led legal experts like Advocate Augustus Fungo to call for immediate amendments to Tanzania’s Road Traffic Act (RTA).
Fungo, who also serves as Executive Director of the Road Safety Ambassador of Tanzania, has proposed reclassifying such incidents as vehicular manslaughter or homicide to ensure stricter penalties for reckless drivers.
He argued that current laws are inadequate, citing a case where a driver who killed three pedestrians was fined only Sh150,000.
Currently, the RTA prescribes a maximum fine of Sh100,000 or imprisonment of at least three years for dangerous driving that results in death.
For causing injury, fines range from Sh2,000 to Sh20,000 or imprisonment of six months to three years. Fungo insists these penalties are insufficient to deter negligent drivers or instill accountability.
He also criticized Tanzania’s blood alcohol limit for drivers, which is 80 milligrams per 100 milliliters of blood, far above the international standard of 50 milligrams.
Furthermore, limited access to breathalyzer devices complicates efforts to prove intoxication in court, enabling many offenders to evade justice.
Advocate Fungo emphasized the urgency of amending the RTA, stating that negligence on the road remains an all-too-common means of ending lives with minimal consequences.
He warned that without stricter laws and better enforcement mechanisms, the road safety crisis in Tanzania will only deepen, with more innocent lives lost.