Dangerous driving, coupled with drunk driving, speeding and driving defective vehicles, has rendered Tanzania a country prone to fatal road accidents.

Hardly a day passes in the country without the loss of dozens of precious lives due to road accidents.

According to statistics from the Tanzania Police Force, more than 160,000 road accidents occurred between 1994 and 2005, killing 21,001 people and injuring 157,710 others.

Worldwide it was estimated in 2004 that 1.2 million people were killed (2.2% of all deaths) and 50 million more were injured in motor vehicle collisions.

In the latest such accident, 25 people were killed and 53 injured when two buses were involved in a head-on collision in Tanga region on February 2.

Despite taking a heavy toll of human lives and the economy, road accidents have now become an acceptable part of everyday life in Tanzania.

Efforts by the government through the Tanzania Police Force and the National Road Safety Council of Tanzania to curb accidents have been sporadic.

Experts say there are three main causes of road accidents -- errors by road users, defective vehicles and deficiency in the road environments.

Extensive, government-backed studies need to be carried out in Tanzania to find out the root causes of accidents and come up with lasting solutions to this fatal and costly problem.

A lot has been said about the safety -- or lack thereof -- of upcountry passenger buses in the country, mostly comprising a fleet of lorries converted into passenger coaches.

Effective legislation, enforcement of road safety measures, conditions of roads and vehicles are some of the areas that need urgent attention.

Regrettably, both the police and government regulatory agencies have woefully failed to keep unsafe vehicles off our roads largely due to laxity and rampant corruption.

A recent report by the Commission for Global Road Safety says "Human factors" - such as non-adherence to traffic rules and aggressive, reckless, negligent or inconsiderate driver behaviour - were the major contributing factors, playing a causal role in 70-80% of all accidents across the world.

"Vehicle factors" such as poor lights, smooth or damaged tyres and poor brakes contributed to a further 10-15% of accidents.

Poor road conditions - which have drawn much media attention lately - only contributed to 5-10% of accidents in 2004.

A change of attitude from every member of society could go a long way to stop easily preventable road accidents from recurring.