Police in Chitipa on Friday engaged motorcycle taxi owners on road safety and ways of reducing motorcycle theft.
Officer-In-Charge, Aubrey Kawale ACP, emphasized the importance of having a mutual and robust working relationship between the police and motorcycle owners to reduce road accidents and theft of motorcycles in the district.
Kawale reminded motorcycle owners the importance of registering and insuring their motorcycles.
He advised them to have riders who have riders’ licenses.
He further called on them to always put on crash-helmets, observe the seating capacity, report accidents and refrain from running away when involved in accidents.
The meeting drew attention of the Station Executive Chairperson (SEC) Isaac Simfukwe and Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) officials who made presentations on issues of taxes in regard to registration of motorcycles.
During the meeting, superintendent Tom Kaunda, the station’s traffic officer, highlighted rules and regulations to follow when on the roads to prevent accidents.
This is coming against a background of increased road accidents and theft of motorcycles in the district and the need to contain the further spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Chitipa Police Station registered ten fatal road accidents and four cases of theft of motorcycles in the first half of 2020 against 2 fatal road accidents and one case of theft of motorcycle in 2019.
Chairperson for motorcycle-taxi operators, Andrew Silanga thanked the police for the initiative saying it will help them improve and start following rules and regulations on the roads.
He further promised that they will not look at the police as enemies.
The motorcycle taxi owners were advised to elect a committee to run their affairs.
Over seventy motorcycle taxi owners attended the meeting.
In Chitipa, some motorcyclists use foreign registration numbers, riders hardly put on crash-helmets and they exceed the seating capacity.
