Latra orders registration of school bus drivers and matrons

Dar es Salaam. The Land Transport Regulatory Authority (Latra) is developing new rules requiring schools to register their school buses, drivers, and attendants in an effort to decrease incidents of violence against children.

Mr Habibu Suluo, the director general of Latra, stated in Dar es Salaam yesterday that the public transportation regulations were being updated to strengthen the standards and enable oversight of school buses.

“By collaborating with the ministry of Works and Transport and the Attorney General’s Office, we are reviewing the regulations and we hope that the revised ones will become effective in June, this year,” he said.

He said that up to this point, Latra had given school operators the go-ahead to submit a list of the names of their school bus drivers as well as their attendants, sometimes known as matrons or patrons, along with their National Identity Card (Nida) numbers and cell phones.

Mr Suluo made the statement yesterday when briefing journalists on public transportation and road safety issues.

He stated that the measure was intended to fight incidences of violence against schoolchildren, some of which were claimed to have occurred on school buses by those who were supposed to be guarding them. “We are all aware of cases of students being defiled and these regulations seek to prevent such cases,” he said.

He added: "School operators must take bus drivers’ identities and licence numbers to the nearest Latra office across the country so that bus attendants can be entered into Latra’s database system.”

Speaking about the Vehicle Tracking System (VTS), Mr Suluo said in March alone, they suspended 27 upcountry buses and banned 30 bus drivers. Out of the 30 bus drivers, 13 have been disqualified for reckless driving while 17 have been banned for tampering with the VTS.

“Bus owners have invested millions of shillings in buses, but not in good driver management or skilled specialists to assist them. Suspending 27 upcountry buses is a significant loss for the company, as is the prohibition of 17 bus drivers,” he said.

Mr Suluo stated that the decision to suspend some buses and divers was made after they discovered that untrustworthy companies that were awarded the tender to install VTS had been colluding with bus operators’ interference of VTS, causing the system not to send information about speed and trucking related issues.

According to him, Latra undertook an inquiry with the help of numerous experts, government authorities, and members of the public, who determined that the batteries of the tracking devices had been unplugged from systems, preventing Latra from monitoring the buses on a regular basis.

Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police Ramadhan Ng'anzi said the issue of road safety has no compromise, no human should lose life because of untruthful people thus if one found interfering the system be dealt with in accordance.

“The number of buses tempering with the system has kept increasing. We will not hesitate to suspend buses operators, not fail to provide or renew licenses for bus drivers.