Rwanda National Police

Police has urged the general public to desist from the fatal act of driving under the influence of alcohol in a bid to foster safety on the road.

The call stems from an incident on Tuesday night when officers in a night patrol arrested 4 drunk drivers as well as issued out penalties to seven others that were wrongly parked on pedestrian lanes at a popular bar in Kigali known as Ogopogo.

On the same night, Police ensured that six men who were drunk were chauffeured back to their homes in hire taxis rather than drive themselves back home in a drunken state.

“The public should take caution and be responsible even when they are enjoying. A drunk driver is a risk not only to their lives but to other road users and property. Therefore, responsibility is very crucial in ensuring road safety,” CIP Emmanuel Kabanda, the Traffic Police spokesperson said.

He cited that the objective of Rwanda National Police is to create an accident free environment which can be attained by contribution from every road user.

Over the previous festive season, Police was very vigilant on traffic safety and went as far as providing free transportation to individuals who called in to admit that they were not in condition to drive after consuming alcohol.

On top of that, Police maintains daily patrols to ensure that only those permitted to drive can do so - and has on several instances arrested individuals driving without permits.

Police is mandated to confiscate a driving permit if the driver is under the influence, as well as those found to be drunken driving one year after being penalized for the same offence.

Between August and September, last year, road accident deaths stood at 113 with 662 injuries, according to Police figures.

The figures, however, dropped between October and November with the number of deaths coming down to 74 (representing a 34 per cent reduction) while injuries stood at 511, representing a 22.8 per cent drop.