Last Monday, the Addis Ababa City Council introduced new Road Traffic Safety Regulations in the city. The use of seatbelts is now enforced, mobile phones usage while driving is banned and giving alms at traffic lights is prohibited.


The newly issued Road Traffic Safety Regulations which were ratified by the Addis Ababa City Council prohibits pedestrians from jumping over the ring road barriers, walking on the thoroughfares and mandates crossing the streets using the white lined "zebra crossings".

Sergeant Chief Assefa Mezgebu, from the public relations office of the Addis Ababa City Police Commission Traffic Investigation and Control Department told Capital that pedestrians are strictly prohibited from walking and crossing roads in any area they want.


For drivers, failure to properly maintain their vehicles and diffusing music or other messages through loudspeakers while driving in the city are all punishable under the newly ratified safety regulation.


"Mobile phone use while driving and driving without safety belts are dangerous. Even talking with a hands free device is unacceptable. The offenders will face charges immediately," Sergeant Chief Assefa explained. He said that the rate of the penalty would vary according to the offense.


Different studies indicate that use of mobile phones while driving contributes greatly to fatal traffic accidents. A large reason for this is that drivers lose concentration. According to traffic police, distraction is a factor in the increasing amount of traffic accidents.


Most of the drivers and pedestrians who talked with Capital hope that the traffic accidents will decline as a result of the introduction of the new safety regulations.
These individuals felt that the cause of some of the accidents is the negligence or lack of knowledge of pedestrians. Sergeant Chief Assefa agrees.


According to the official Traffic Police figure, in the first quarter of this fiscal year 1,687 accidents took place in different parts of the city. The figure shows a decline by 52 accidents from the fourth quarter of last year. But the number of fatalities have increased by 5. There were 85, 208 serious injuries and 158 light injuries in the first quarter. In the first quarter of the year there was 9.1 million birr loss. The rise in automobile ownership together with poor quality roads, lack of pedestrian side walks, high rates of congestion at peak hours are major causes for the high rate of traffic accidents in Addis Ababa. If the construction of new roads continues at the current rate, accidents are highly likely to decline.


The vehicle population in Ethiopia is estimated to be about 250,000 of which over 60 percent are reported to be in Addis Ababa and around the capital.


The city administration began drafting the new traffic safety regulation two and half years ago. The new regulation, which will replace the previous Road Traffic Safety Regulation, issued in 1998 by the Council of Addis Ababa Administration will be published in the Addis Negari Gazette the city newspaper.


Oromia and Tigray regional states have already implemented similar laws, such as the enforcement of the compulsory use of seatbelts and banning mobile phone use while driving, a few years ago.

Capital learnt that the regulation with penalty will be implemented in the coming week. In the last seven days there was an awareness and orientation program where warnings were given in place of fines. Beware drivers and pedestrians! The tough regulation will be in place as of Monday.