The government is in the final stages of preparing a bill for the National Assembly to amend the 1973 Road Safety Act to include a requirement for commercial motorcycle riders, the passengers and drivers, to always wear helmets.

Daniel Sillo, the Home Affairs deputy minister, made this affirmation in the National Assembly yesterday when responding to an additional question from Asha Abdallah Juma (Special Seats).

The MP had asked when the government would introduce a provision in road safety law mandating helmet use for both passengers and the motorcycle drivers, to which he said that the current law has shortcomings and does not make helmet use for passengers mandatory.

He told MPs that the issue has been addressed in the proposed amendments as now wearing helmets will be mandatory, while in the main question Amina Ali Mzee (Special Seats) asked when the government would begin implementing better laws and coordination to reduce road accidents arising from driver negligence.

He said that the traffic police overseeing road safety using the Road Safety Act, Chapter 168 of 1973 as amended in 2002 need wider leverage to enforce vital regulatory requirements.

“As part of efforts to improve this law and reduce road accidents, the government has gathered input from stakeholders and is now finalizing these changes,” he said, noting that the bill will be presented to the legislature once it is completed.

A follow-up question had the MP asking what measures the government was taking to control reckless drivers and whether the government sees the need to expedite amending this law to curb road accidents.

The deputy minister explained that the government takes action against reckless drivers by revoking their licenses and bringing them to court for legal proceedings, pointing at the government's strategy to reduce accidents by amending the 1973 law.

“We are now in the final stages, ready to bring the bill to Parliament for processing," he stated, while in a related question, Kinondoni MP Abbas Tarimba questioned the government’s stance on “the growing disorder among bodaboda drivers.”

There was an increase in accidents, he said, pointing at a recent incident in which an MP was involved in a motorcycle accident, to which the response was to urge road users to adhere to road safety laws to avoid accidents.