AfricaPress-Tanzania: A TOTAL of 3,500 road accidents occurred between June 2018 and April 2020, in which at least 1,772 people died and 4,904 others were injured, the National Assembly was told.
The Ministry of Home Affairs said in a written response that during the same period, 17 accidents involving water transport vessels took place and killed 17 people.
The minister, Mr George Simbachawene, reacted to a question by the Mtambile Member of Parliament, Mr Masoud Abdallah Salim, who wanted to know how many road accidents took place and how many people died.
The MP remarked: “Accidents have been killing and injuring a number of people; how many died and how many were injured from June 2018 to April 2020?”
Road accidents have continued to claim lives for years in the country, with reports showing that reckless driving and poor road infrastructures are to blame for the huge majority of road accidents in all East African countries, and not just Tanzania.
In July 2018, the police embarked on a campaign to institute strict measures for road users after a series of road accidents that claimed lives of hundreds of innocent Tanzanians.
Road safety stakeholders believe the new measures will help reduce the menace.
This came barely some weeks after at least 20 people were killed and 45 injured following another gory road accident in Mbeya earlier that month.
This was the fifth fatal road accident recorded in the country during this month alone, coming barely three days since five people died and three others were injured after their car veered off the road, overturned and caught fire in Nanyumbu District in Mtwara Region.
On June 18, 14 people were killed and four others injured in a collision between a minibus and a lorry in Mkuranga District, Coast Region.
Four days earlier, 13 people died and 50 others were injured after the bus they were travelling in overturned in Mbeya Region.
On June 6, ten people died and 28 others were seriously injured when their bus rammed into a cargo train in Kigoma Region.
