English
Kinyarwanda
Rwanda National Police (RNP) has once again appealed to the general public to refrain from driving under the influence of alcohol as it breaches road safety standards which in some cases result into fatal accidents.
The call was made by the Spokesperson for Traffic and Road Safety, Chief Inspector of Police (CIP) Emmanuel Kabanda, as he reacted to the arrest of an errant driver on Saturday, who “intentionally” knocked a police checkpoint near Kigali Convention Center roundabout.
The incident happened at around 5:00 am when Benjamin Karenzi, an employee of a local telecom company, while driving a vehicle registration RAC 268D, defied and knocked a police checkpoint.
Karenzi was at the time drunk.
“After all attempts to stop him failed, officers on duty had to forcefully stop him as he pushed his way towards Kigali Convention Center officers, after they engaged and shot the car tyres,” said CIP Kabanda.
Karenzi was paraded before the media later that morning, with police warning of consequences to those who violate traffic rules and regulations and putting lives of other people in danger.
“We want to strictly warn all drivers and even motorcyclists, against driving under the influence of alcohol and respect traffic rules at all times not only in this festive season,” he warned.
“We didn’t experience such cases of driving while drunk during Christmas days but we have experienced several cases as we approach the New Year, and that why we are reemphasizing that the public avoid this kind of misconduct that is actually avoidable,” said CIP Kabanda.
Karenzi’s arrest came a day after Police applied all efforts to stop another errant driver still in the same spot, who also refused to stop but instead attempted to knock the officers, who tried to stop him after overrunning a checkpoint.
