Motorcyclists (file photo)

At least 800 people are killed every year in Tanzania since 2008 in road accidents involving motorcycles, Deputy Minister for Home Affairs Hamad Masauni, told the National Assembly on Wednesday.

Masauni told the house in the capital Dodoma that there were 38,237 accidents involving motorcycles and tricycles from 2008 to Sept. 2018.

“Since 2008 to September this year, a total of 8,237 people died in accidents involving motorcycles and 37,521 others lost their limbs,’’ the minister said, noting that the figures meant that motorcycle accidents kill 823 people annually in the country.

Masauni was responding to a question from a lawmaker on the number of people killed in accidents involving motorcycles, commonly known in Kiswahili as boda boda.

The minister also answered questions on efforts against drivers of government vehicles that violated traffic rules.

Masauni said he had directed police commanders to arrest all drivers of government vehicles who violated traffic rules and regulations.

All government drivers implicated in breaching traffic rules and regulations should be arrested and charged to court, he said.

More than 20 people were killed in the past three months in road accidents involving government vehicles. (Xinhua/NAN)