The all-out campaign targeted mainly pedestrians, passengers, taxi-moto operators and cyclists who are deemed to have a stake in preventing road accidents.
RNP leadership, provincial governors, district mayors, and other partners educated various groups of road users on road safety.
While addressing passengers at Giti cy’inyoni along the Kigali-Huye highway, the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Dan Munyuza, who was accompanied by the Mayor of City of Kigali, Marie Chantal Rwakazina urged them to consider safety first.
“You have the primary responsibility to ensure drivers abide by traffic rules. Don’t let them put your life at risk. You have the right to stop the driver and get out when you feel his behavior like over speeding, using the phone or when drunk is putting your life on the edge. It should be your life first,” he told passengers.
He also urged them to always call the Police whenever a driver or motorcyclist is using the road in a “deadly manner,” adding that it will help to respond before such “irresponsible behaviors lead to injuries and loss of lives.”
Kigali City Mayor Marie Chantal Rwakazina said that they continue to work with RNP and other agencies like Rwanda Transport Development Agency (RTDA) to “increase visibility of traffic signs on roads to guide all groups of road users on safety.”
Pedestrians were also urged to use pedestrian pathways and zebra crossing and to be very sure when crossing the road in areas where there are no crossing lines.
However, some of the passengers accuse bus drivers of over-speeding and refusing to slow down, according to Francoise Mukayisenga, a passenger in the City of Kigali.
“This campaign is useful because at least, it will make drivers understand that we, passengers, have the right and value of being driven as we want. There are those you ask to slow down and they ignore you or request you to get out of the taxi,” she says.
The campaign was also characterized by putting stickers on vehicles and motorcycles as well as giving flyers to passengers with road safety rules and contacts to report any reckless use of the road or in case of an accident.
Traffic statistics between January and September 2018 indicate that motorcyclists account for 56 percent, pedestrians 50 percent while bicycle taxis account for 36 percent.
At least 437 fatalities and 662 injuries were recorded in the same period.
World Health Organization (WHO), ranks road accidents eighth among the commonest causes of deaths, claiming more than 1.2 million lives annually, of who 60% are in Sub-Saharan countries.
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