DETERMINED to combat road crashes and their consequences to human life, road safety stakeholders in the country are demanding that the government comes up with a policy to guide alcoholic sales and distributions.
The Police’s Traffic Unit has been conducting impromptu inspections by testing drivers, to determine whether or not they have exceeding the set limit of 0.05g/dl for experienced and inexperienced ones, and blood alcohol concentration not to surpass 0.02g/dl.
However, road safety stakeholders that include Nongovernmental organisations are of the opinion that lack of restrictive laws in regard to sales, distribution and consumption of alcoholic drinks aggravates road crashes which have been claiming lives and injuring many people.
However, The Tanganyika Law Society (TLS) calls on the government to spearhead amendments of the Road Traffic Act (RTA) to adopt alcohol content levels that meet international standards.
“RTA must prove sufficient in addressing primary and secondary risk factors. It should adopt and address international standards drink and driving, speed limit and helmet, which are key factors on the issue of road safety,” says Marcy Kessy, a Program officer of TLS.
Other stakeholders raising their views on the need of restrictive policy, are the regional and continental level Nongovernmental Organisations (NGOs) of Southern African Alcohol Policy Alliance (SAAPA), the East African Alcohol Policy Alliance (EAAPA) and the West African Alcohol Policy Alliance (WAAPA).
In their letter calling for policy change to the African Union (AU) heads of state, the NGO Consortium observed that alcohol is no ordinary commodity for it doesn’t affect only those who drink it, but also affects the lives of people around them.
“The African continent had the highest rate (26.6 per 100, 000) of road crashes globally in 2013. Alcohol affects the vision, balance and reaction time of drivers. Road crashes are the 8th leading cause of death in the world, and the leading cause of death amongst 15–29 year olds.” reads part of the letter.”
