Director of Transport from Surface and Regulatory Authority of Tanzania Leo John Ngowi apologized to the Zambian government for the accidents caused by Tanzanian registered trucks and that there is need to find a lasting solution to the problem.
Zambia Police Service Traffic section in a report recorded about 227 road traffic accidents caused by Tanzanian truck drivers between January 1, 2015 and May 19, 2015.
Out of the 227 accidents 37 were fatal in which 42 lives were lost while 42 were serious with 51 slightly serious of which 59 persons were slightly injured and 133 involved damage to vehicle or property.
The report says the major causes of these accidents are excess speed, obstruction, fatigue which leads to wrong parking and that poses a danger to other motorists and that the worst is the running away of drivers after causing an accident.
And the Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) says its government’s role to remove obstacles that cause congestion at border posts such as poor road infrastructure.
RTSA Chief Executive Director Zindaba Soko said this during the bilateral road transport meeting between Zambia and Tanzania in Ndola on Wednesday.
Mr. Soko said the state of the road infrastructure in any country plays a key role in promoting the smooth flow of trade and people.
“With regards to border processes, Zambia has made significant strides at implementing the One Stop Border Post (OSBP) at Nakonde/Tunduma border post. The OSBP infrastructure at Nakonde/Tunduma border on the Zambian side is complete and operational,” he said.
Mr. Soko urged Tanzania to expedite efforts to set up the like infrastructure on the Tanzanian side so that the OSBP could become fully operational.
He said it was Zambia’s hope that other countries both in the SADC and COMESA regions could adopt the concept on all corridors in order to enhance efficiency in the clearing of goods and passengers at border posts.
“There are obvious gains to be achieved by reducing the amount of time that vehicles (both freight and passengers) spend at the border, one of them being the reduction in the cost of doing business as operators will be able to make more trips than they are making at present,” he said.
Mr Soko stressed the need for operators to adhere to traffic rules so as to prevent needless losses of life due to reckless, careless or dangerous driving.
Interstate-95 the main highway on the East coast of the USA covers a stretch of 1,920Miles (3,090Km) and there are very few accidents. Dual carriage way the answer kwasila! The two governments should work together and find a lasting solution. Corruption too much ba fee color ba politicians
Apology accepted. Then what? When you apologise you are saying you are sorry for what you caused and is an assurance that you won’t cause the offending thing to happen again.
Are we to understand that there won’t be further accidents he is sorry about? Otherwise the apology has no meaning.
Taqwa buses are dangerous. I have been on the Dar es salaam TZ route many times, its brutal. Worse when you are in Iringa. The drivers are maniacs in those 20 odd corners and sharp turns in full speed. Its like a roller coaster run. Lets fine them hard, even ban them.
The solution lies in improving the dry port with necessary facilities at Nakonde where tanzanian trucks hands over cargo to Zambian trucks and continue the deliveries to final destinations. Container handling facilities etc must be installed. Tanzania does not allow zambian trucks on their roads. This does not mean that zambians are better but it also offers jobs and contracts to zambians and we will bear the responsibilities. Smuggling will also reduce especially charcoal which triggers deforestation on our forests.
South Africans kill our youths.
Zimbabweans bully us.
Zaireans kill our drivers.
Tanzanians kill our citizens, deny entry to our trucks.
Angolans threatens us.
ZAMBIA land of cowards.
I always enjoy my smooth rides on I-95 and NJ-Turnpike, hope there’s no retirement to go back to the land….LMAO
Iwe Maloza stop your addiction to ” playing victim” Tanzania has been our best neighbour who cause us no problems and by the way even helped UNIP to get independence. Between Zambia and Tanzania there are no passports but do you see Tanzanians committing crime in Zambia? No. When we kept certain nationalities during their independence struggles copperbelt became the armed robbery capital of africa.The apology is genuine and should be accepted not criticised.
big mouth of maloza………..
The trend of primitive Zambian men stripping women naked in public is not right and it should be stopped!!
Mobs of classless stinking men surround a beautiful woman and rip away her clothes until she is naked.
Primitive Zambian man be civilized its none of their business what someone is wearing.
Shame on these lowlifes, when did anyone’s dressing became another person’s business?
These savages are potential rapists who should rot in jail
The last time i checked God created us naked and in African culture women wore bark-skin “G-String” and nothing on top… Chitenge’S AND SALAULA WERE BROUGHT BY MUZUNGU’S
Shame on you Zambian *****s!!
@ Red Umbrella. Although blogging out of context of this story, you are absolutely right! Our young men’s minds are immoraly twisted and a law should be hastily enacted to harshly deal with those stripping women at the pretext that they are not properly dressed when it is in their minds, if it not in place or inadequate.
Zindaba Soko is a woman, please!
Girls as young as eight in Mozambique and Zambia are forced to go to camps where they are shown how to please a man in bed in order to prepare them for married life, activists said at an international conference on ending child marriage.
Let Tanzanians trucks start offloading their cargo at the border entry and let Zambians pick from there.Secondly how do these trucks pass through the road blocks with eight spot lights plus four normal lights which comes to twelve lights on one truck?They flash you with no regards for human life and usually they come on the middle of the roads.I have spoken several times on this subject to RTSA and other stake holders but to no avail.Fine anyone with abnormal spot lights including long distance buses using the northern route.A fine of K15,000.00 will be a deterrent to other motorists in our Country.
@South Park good point but stoolpid language.
Just withdraw recognition of the Tanzanian SADC driving license so that holders of that license be required to get Zambian driving permits. Then these chaps will behave
Very good that RTSA are now doing trend analysis on road accidents. This is why the government should embark on a program to build proper motorways and introduce toll system. Carefully constructed motorways or freeways will not only increase trade but would be a source of job creation and a catalyst for development. Toll charges would be used to maintain these roads to high standards. You could also sub contract facilities such as recovery, filling stations and travel lodges. This is not rocket science but it baffles me why we tend to shy away at opportunities in Zambia. This is the type if infrastructure you should sacrifice even borrowing money for because it will benefit the people in the long run. Not borrowing to pay for salaries!