Rwanda National Police

Gerayo Amahoro campaign took the centre stage on Tuesday during a community meeting that brought together about 10000 residents of the three cells of Base Sector.

Residents, during their community meeting held in Rwamahwa Cell, carried placards with road safety messages.

Daniel Nshimiyimana, the executive secretary of Rwamahwa Cell, said that they made road safety part of their meeting so as to promote its culture by understanding better traffic rules and regulations.

He observed that the ongoing construction of Base-Gicumbi road coupled with Gerayo Amahoro campaign requires them know how safe to use their new road.

"These placards and banners were made by the residents themselves. We know there is a campaign called Gerayo Amahoro, so we wanted to understand it better by inviting Police to elaborate more for us to get more involved and to convey the same road safety messages to others," Nshimiyimana said.

"New tarmac roads, although they are good for the development of an area and an infrastructure necessity, the increase in traffic flow can also be a safety issue if local communities, who are used to feeder roads, don't know how safe to use them."

Gerayo Amahoro is a year-long campaign launched in May last year to influence a culture of road safety and to prevent road carnage.

The campaign led to the reduction of accidents by 42 percent between August and December last year compared to the same period in the previous year.

Chief Inspector of Police (CIP) Alexis Rugigana, the Northern Region police spokesperson, thanked residents of Base for taking up the mantle to influence a road safety culture.

This, he observed, indicates that Gerayo Amahoro continues to bear fruits.

"It is commendable to see one group coming to the meeting with banners and placards with road safety messages so as to educate their fellow community members. It was like a surprise to everyone who was in that meeting and it was a great thing," said CIP Rugigana.

He urged the residents to always walk on the left side of the road facing oncoming traffic to avoid being hit by vehicles coming from the same direction; look left, right and left before crossing; and avoid crossing when on phone, which is a distractive factor.

Eric Ndorimana, an official from Rulindo District, who urged residents to be active in community development programmes, reminded them to make safer road usage part of their values and culture.