RWAMAGANA - Police in Rwamagana district yesterday arrested Abid Inkya Muhamid, a Tanzanian heavy truck driver, who had escaped the scene of an accident last Saturday night.

He was arrested while posing as a friend of the owner of the truck that was involved in the accident.
Muhamid, who was heading to Kigali with a Tanzanian registered trailer at the time of the accident, rammed into a Rwandan registered pick-up, completely crushing it.

The driver of the pick-up, Innocent Uwihoreye, is currently under intensive care at the University Teaching Hospital in Kigali.

According to the police, the Tanzanian driver knew that he had committed a major traffic offence which prompted his escape.

District Police Commander, Superintendent Vincent Kamanzi, condemned reckless driving by long distance drivers on the Kigali Rwamagana highway.

"Long distance drivers have a bad record of reckless driving and that is unacceptable,” he said.

"The signs on the road prohibit overtaking. It is reckless driving that led to the head-on collision with the small pick-up. The driver of the truck immediately disappeared and we had to search for him for over 20 hours,” he added.

Muhamid admitted having committed a traffic offence, but argued that he had fled for fear of mob justice.
He said he is an experienced driver who was only unfortunate to commit the traffic offence.

"I don’t know what scared me before I went the wrong direction…I saw a big shadow in front of me and when I tried to avoid it, I collided with another vehicle. I beg for forgiveness. I am a stranger, so I escaped because I feared for my life after the accident,” he said.

Meanwhile, traffic along Kayonza-Kigali highway was blocked for several hours, when road side trees were brought down by heavy winds yesterday.

Ends