The Minister for Justice and Attorney General, Johnston Busingye, on Thursday said the government will not rest until road accidents, especially those caused by drunk driving are no more.
The Minister said this Thursday during a media interaction session at Police Headquarters in Kigali, on the role of citizens in preventing road accidents and other crimes, during which it was revealed that in the past eight weeks alone 652 drunk drivers were arrested.
Busingye said: "Our wish is such that whoever has taken alcohol should not drive because this puts people’s lives at risk. We should focus on prevention rather than cure or postmortem. There is a direct cost of unsafe roads; in lives, property, vehicles, limbs, money, and more. This is simple logic.”
"We are on course to achieving record road safety levels. The road safety sector has assumed ownership. Road safety of all Rwandans is now guaranteed. Will we or should we get tired [to ensure road safety]? No! Our road safety programme is for 52 week a year.”
In May, the Government launched a 52-week-long road safety campaign dubbed "Gerayo Amahoro” (loosely translated to ‘arrive safely’) to sensitise all road users on traffic rules and regulations so as to promote road safety in the country.
It is meant to develop and implement sustainable road safety strategies and programmes, and increase road safety awareness towards mindset change to prevent road carnage.
Besides, schools and other institutions countrywide, managers of hospitality facilities have been called upon to understand and own the ongoing national road safety campaign.
The Secretary General, Rwanda Investigation Bureau, Jeannot Ruhunga also attended the meeting.
More than 1,200 drunk drivers were arrested between January and August this year. The Minister explained that the police force should be thanked for its dedicated effort in preventing road accidents.
From January to September, Police statistics indicate that 532 people died in road accidents while other 705 people incurred very serious injuries in the same period while more than 1,300 properties were destroyed.
Busingye said these figures alone do not show the entire picture and extent of how serious the problem of road accidents is because one individual’s death or serious injury impacts on his or her immediate family and community.
Measures being stepped up by law enforcement, including arresting drunk drivers, he said, should not be taken negatively but rather, should be welcomed as a strategic way of saving lives.
Laws of driving under the influence vary between countries. While the internationally acceptable limit of blood alcohol content before a person is charged with a crime is 0.05%, in Rwanda it is presently set at is 0.08%.
However, the government is now considering a review to set the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limits to under 0.04%.
The ongoing road safety campaign, the Minister said, is bearing fruit and there is only one way to sustain it; "mindset change.”
"Rwanda should be a road safety by choice country. Laws and regulations should come last and the choices we make come first. Mass mobilization will continue as we focus on speed, zero alcohol, technical soundness of vehicles, skilled drivers, and others.”
Highlighting other current statistics and trends, ACP Teddy Ruyenzi, the deputy commissioner for traffic and road safety in charge of administration, said that intensive operations have helped reduce road carnage.
"We realized that if we seriously reduce the number of people driving under influence we can significantly check the problem,” Ruyenzi said, noting that arrests of drunk drivers in the past few months were 141, 92, 96, 77, and 62, respectively.
"The decline in arrests indicates that the campaign is paying off.”
In the past eight weeks 588 drivers were arrested for disconnecting speed governors in their vehicles.
All roads to have traffic cameras
Among others, the police force is also intensifying measures against drivers who tamper with speed governors and has plans to scale up the installation of traffic cameras.
IGP Dan Munyuza told media that traffic cameras are to installed on all highways.
The Inspector General of Police (IGP) Dan Munyuza, told the meeting that the installation of traffic cameras done in the recent past was a pilot phase and there is a plan to actually have them installed on all country highways.
Munyuza noted that "most likely,” the operation will start next month.
"It is a national policy of combining technology and human beings, in this case traffic police officers, on our roads so as to efficiently prevent road carnage. The technology is much more efficient than humans and it is diverse in form as it tackles different forms of traffic offenses too.”
Surveillance cameras will also be installed, gradually, in what Munyuza described as complementary resources in addition to humans so that security is enhanced.
Officials stressed that the ongoing road safety campaign is in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Early this year, the UN launched a road safety strategy in support of the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020, which was established by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in 2010.
The initiative contributes to SDG target 3.6 on halving the number of global deaths and injuries from road traffic accidents; and SDG target 11.2 on providing access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems as well as improve road safety for all.