Opinion leaders must support road safety campaign — NRSA boss

Director General of the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA), Abraham Amaliba, has criticised the practice where some opinion leaders intervene to secure the release of motorbike riders arrested for failing to wear helmets.

According to him, such interventions undermine efforts to improve road safety and protect lives, particularly in the Northern Region where compliance with helmet regulations remains low.

Speaking during an engagement with stakeholders on road safety enforcement, the NRSA boss noted that opinion leaders should rather encourage riders to comply with the law instead of pleading for offenders to be released.

"Most of the time when you embark on these exercises, I hear opinion leaders come to you to beg, but we are talking about human lives, so the opinion leaders should rather be begging the riders to wear the helmet and not come to beg you to release them," he said.

The NRSA boss stressed that road safety interventions are aimed at preserving lives and reducing road crashes, adding that enforcement agencies must remain firm in implementing the law.

He urged the Police to intensify enforcement against riders who fail to wear helmets while assuring them of the authority's support.

Mr. Amaliba said the NRSA would also strengthen public education campaigns by engaging traditional leaders, religious leaders and opinion leaders to create awareness on the importance of helmet use.

"So road safety is interested in human lives to preserve human life. So I will urge you to step up, but we too will do our sensitization by meeting the chiefs, the religious leaders, and then the opinion leaders," he stated.

According to him, engaging community leaders before enforcement exercises would help reduce resistance and discourage attempts to influence law enforcement officers.