Zanzibar’s New War Against Speeding and Road Lawlessness has begun. The camera does not fear your name or title. Can Technology Bring Discipline to Our Roads?
The new system follows a month-long pilot phase that began on 1 July. According to the authorities, the cameras can detect not only speeding, but also mobile-phone use while driving, failure to wear seat belts or motorcycle helmets, passenger overloading, disobedience of traffic signs and signals, and vehicles that are uninsured or unroadworthy. Once an offence is recorded, a notification detailing the violation and penalty is expected to be sent automatically to the registered owner of the vehicle.
On paper, this is an impressive development. But the real question is not whether Zanzibar now possesses modern cameras. The real question is whether the cameras will be managed with the same discipline, impartiality and accuracy that the technology itself demands.
Experience from Europe and other parts of the world suggests that automated speed enforcement can save lives. A major review examining studies from several countries found reductions in average speeds, speeding violations, collisions, injuries and deaths in areas where speed cameras were introduced. Around camera locations, most studies reported reductions of approximately 14 to 25 per cent in crashes, although results differed according to the road, the system and the quality of enforcement.
The logic is simple. A police officer cannot stand on every road throughout the day and night. A camera does not become tired, distracted or persuaded to look in another direction. When drivers know that there is a strong possibility of being caught, they are more likely to obey the speed limit even when no police officer is visible.
Although Mainland Tanzania has long relied on radar guns, CCTV monitoring and electronic traffic-offence records and has already begun expanding roadside surveillances, Zanzibar now appears to have taken a bolder step by introducing an integrated system capable of detecting offences and automatically notifying vehicle owners.This makes Zanzibar’s new system especially significant. If it proves accurate, transparent and effective, it may become a practical model and a living testimony for our brothers and sisters on the Mainland to study and eventually adopt.
Nevertheless, Zanzibar must learn from both the successes and failures of countries that have used these systems for many years.
The first requirement is clear road signage. No motorist should be fined for exceeding a speed limit that was not properly displayed. Every road under camera surveillance should have visible and unambiguous speed-limit signs, particularly where the permitted speed changes suddenly.
The second requirement is verifiable evidence. Every penalty notice should show the vehicle, registration number, date, time, location, permitted speed and recorded speed. The motorist should not simply receive a message ordering payment without being allowed to see the evidence against him.
Thirdly, the system must provide a simple and independent appeal procedure. Cameras are highly useful, but they are not incapable of error. A number plate may be misread, the wrong vehicle may be identified, ownership records may be outdated or equipment may be incorrectly calibrated. Mwananchi who believes that a penalty has been issued wrongly must be able to challenge it without being forced through an expensive and complicated process.
Fourthly, payments should be entirely cashless and traceable. The good news is that Zanzibar has already adopted this system, thereby reducing direct cash transactions between motorists and enforcement officers. No traffic officer, intermediary or unofficial “agent” should be allowed to collect money personally from motorists. One of the greatest potential benefits of automated enforcement is the reduction of direct encounters in which bribery, bargaining , favouritism or disappearance of public revenue might occur and therefore every payment should continue to pass through an official electronic platform and generate a verifiable receipt.
But, technology alone cannot eliminate corruption. The camera may record every offence honestly, while a dishonest person inside the system quietly deletes the offence of a relative, senior official or influential businessman. Every cancellation or alteration of a penalty must therefore leave a permanent electronic record identifying who made the change and why.
The government should also publish regular reports showing how many violations were detected, how many penalties were cancelled, how much money was collected and most importantly whether crashes, injuries and deaths are declining. The success of the program must not be measured by the amount of money raised. It must be measured by the number of lives saved.
Fixed cameras also have one familiar weakness: some drivers slow down when approaching the camera and accelerate immediately after passing it. European countries have increasingly used average-speed systems, which record a vehicle at the beginning and end of a road section and calculate its average speed over the entire distance. Because the driver must maintain a lawful speed throughout the monitored stretch, this method can be more effective than catching motorists at only one point. European transport guidance reports very high compliance on roads where average-speed monitoring is properly applied.
Zanzibar should therefore consider combining fixed cameras with mobile cameras and average-speed monitoring on roads where speeding and serious accidents are common. Camera locations should be selected according to safety evidence and not merely according to where the greatest number of fines can be collected.
Public education will also be essential. Drivers must understand that the system has not been introduced simply to punish them. Speed limits exist because the difference between a safe journey and a fatal collision may be only a few seconds and a few kilometers per hour. A pedestrian, cyclist or child crossing the road has little protection against a speeding vehicle.
This new system therefore deserves public support, but that support must be earned through fairness, transparency and equal enforcement. The poor taxi driver and the owner of the expensive vehicle must be treated in precisely the same manner. A government vehicle should not become invisible merely because of its official number plate. Nor should the offence of an influential individual disappear mysteriously from the records.
Properly administered, smart cameras can help Zanzibar establish a new culture of road discipline instead of that "yakhe culture" on our roads. They can reduce reckless driving, remove opportunities for roadside corruption and remind every motorist that traffic laws are not optional suggestions.
When properly managed, the camera neither knows the driver’s name nor fears his position. It records only the offence. That is its greatest strength, but only if the people behind the camera are equally honest.
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