Transport Authorities Move to Rein in Road Fatalities with Sweeping Safety Overhaul

Nov 29 , 2025
By Mesay S. Nasir

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Road transport authorities are embarking on a fundamental reset of road safety governance, shifting from fragmented rule-making to an integrated, preventive regulatory regime grounded in international best practices. The regulation, recently passed by the Council of Ministers and two years after enabling legislation cleared Parliament, marks a crucial in-flexion point. It scraps outdated and reactive frameworks and consolidates the country’s traffic management under the “safe system” approach, writes Mesay S. Nasir (mesay.shemsu@aait.edu.et) is a lecturer at the School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, College of Technology & Built Environment, Addis Abeba University.

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With the Council of Ministers passing a regulation that year, enacting legislation Parliament passed two years ago, the regulation of the transport sectors has entered a new phase. Its stated goal is “to increase road safety to a higher level and reduce the risk caused by road traffic, setting internationally accepted standards and strategies." It is a clear move from reactive rule-making to preventive and evidence-based regulation.

The latest lawmaking process scraps an earlier regulation passed in 2011 and an amendment six years later. It tried to fold them into a single, nationwide framework built on the safe system approach championed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations "Decade of Action for Road Safety," which will run until the end of this decade.

The amendment enacted in 2017 sought to push Ethiopia toward safe system principles but fell short of that goal. It sharpened definitions, raised fines, and clarified how traffic controllers should do their jobs, yet it never thoroughly neutralised the risk factors that kill and injure thousands each year. Last year's regulatory changes attempt to finish the job. It lays out duties across all five safe system pillars of users, vehicles, speeds, roads, and post-crash response. It backs them with measurable requirements.

For the first time, domestic traffic law defines a novice driver as someone with fewer than two years behind the wheel and a young driver as anyone aged 18 to 29. It introduces terms such as transitional speed zone and dangerous goods, and links its enforcement system not only to traffic-control police but also to transport controllers. The Road Safety & Insurance Fund Service (RSIFS), created under the new measure, will channel funds into crash data systems, driver training, and victim compensation.

These institutional threads tighten a legal fabric that once showed gaps and loose ends.

Every motor-vehicle occupant must now wear a seat belt, a rule that once covered only front-seat passengers. Minors under 13 remain barred from riding up front, and the law now demands that “a child shall be properly fastened with a seat-belt or child-restraint system appropriate to their age and size.” This explicit nod to child-restraint systems harmonises with WHO guidance that car seats and boosters slice child fatalities by up to 70pc.

Motorcyclists gain clearer protection, too. Riders and passengers should wear certified helmets, and retailers are prohibited from selling headgears that fail the technical standards set by the Ministry of Transport & Logistics (MoTL). With two-wheel crashes accounting for a larger share of urban road deaths, federal transport authorities have aligned their rules with the global benchmark.

Drink-driving rules keep the 0.05g/100 ml blood-alcohol ceiling, but the new regulation adds teeth. Police may now conduct random breath tests, use evidential breathalysers, and hand out on-the-spot penalties from license suspensions to impoundments. Novice drivers face a new zero-tolerance clause. Any alcohol at all violates the law, mirroring WHO advice for high-risk groups.

Speed management gets a rewrite. The regulation trims the urban default to 40Km/h and introduces 30Km/h “special-protection zones” around schools, hospitals, and dense neighbourhoods. A new transitional-zone rule instructs drivers to slow gradually as they enter lower-speed areas, reducing rear-end crashes that follow sudden braking. Fixed and mobile speed cameras feed a national demerit-point system that can suspend licenses when point thresholds are reached, echoing the automated enforcement models used in the United Kingdom (UK) and Sweden.

Distractions behind the wheel no longer stop at handheld phones. The legislation outlaws reading, typing, or watching any screen while driving unless the device is mounted and used solely for navigation purposes. Fines and demerit points now scale with the severity of the violation instead of falling under a one-size-fits-all penalty.

Beyond rules for users, the regulation embeds a systemic shift. The RSIFS would bankroll data systems and safety programs, turning crash numbers into actionable intelligence. Coordination between the Transport Ministry, regional offices, and municipalities is required, casting safety as a shared duty rather than a problem for individual drivers alone. By defining novice and young drivers and spelling out risk-based penalties, the law paves the way for a graduated licensing scheme and harsher consequences for repeat offenders. It even clarifies what counts as a serious or minor injury in crash reports, a detail that will smooth reporting to the WHO and UNECE databases.

If written rules alone saved lives, Ethiopia might already have safer roads. Implementation has always been the weak link, and last week's regulation will face the same test. Traffic police and transport controllers should read from the same playbook, but their training, tools, and procedures vary widely. In rural districts, many officers lack modern equipment or clear guidelines, encouraging discretion, inconsistency, and, at times, corruption.

A national enforcement-professionalisation drive with standardised curricula and digital ticketing could reduce discretion and build trust. A National Road Safety Implementation Taskforce, either new or grafted onto an existing body, could keep federal and regional agendas in sync.

Many roads outside the capital still lack basic lane markings, zebra crossings, signage, and speed-calming measures. Even in cities, safety gaps around schools, markets, and dense neighbourhoods remain. A targeted program for thermoplastic road paint, reflectorised signs, raised crossings, and well-designed speed bumps, steered by crash-hotspot data, would pay quick dividends. Safe Routes to School or Market campaigns could layer extra protection where pedestrian risk is highest.

Behavioural change may be the toughest nut to crack. Roads double as social spaces where pedestrians, livestock, vendors, religious processions, and vehicles of all shapes mingle. Formal crossings and speed rules often collide with daily habits. New obligations, including child seats, broader phone bans, and speed limit zones, will take root only if the public hears and trusts the message.

A nationwide campaign using community radio, religious leaders, school systems, and local elders would likely resonate better than a top-down media blitz. The regulation itself envisages student traffic ambassadors and volunteer marshals. Plugging these into a coordinated education strategy could bridge the gap between law and life. Taxi cooperatives, freight unions, and bus associations wield clout and may resist rules that threaten income. Early dialogue with these groups and transitional incentives, such as public recognition for compliance and lower fees for sustained safety performance, could turn potential opponents into cautious allies.

The local vehicle fleet skews old, with many cars lacking working seat belts, sound brakes, or decent headlights. Upgrading them costs more than many owners can afford. Certified helmets and child seats can be priced out of reach. Electronic speed cameras and data systems also cost money and take time to install. Targeted subsidies, repair vouchers, or low-interest loans could help owners bring vehicles up to code. Phased compliance deadlines would avoid sudden shocks to livelihoods. Blended financing that taps government, donors, insurers, and the new Fund Service can keep these programs alive beyond the first burst of enthusiasm.

Cyclists, pedestrians, and animal-drawn carts populate rural and semi-urban roads without visibility gear, and they seldom receive formal training. Reflective materials, bike helmets, and visibility devices for carts cost little and could slash nighttime crashes. Community marshals stationed on busy market days or during school hours could provide an extra buffer where traffic is most chaotic.

Data remains the backbone of the safe system, but Ethiopia still struggles with under-reporting, fuzzy injury categories, and siloed databases. A national crash database, fed by mobile reporting tools capable of offline operation, would allow officers to upload standardised forms in real time. Linking that data to hotspot maps makes enforcement and infrastructure spending smarter and more transparent.

The legal and judicial branches are not immune to strain. Terms like negligent driving and serious injury, even with new definitions, can still sow confusion. Without clear interpretive guidance, disparate courts may rule differently, clogging the system. Issuing explanatory circulars and compiling administrative precedents could help standardise enforcement. Training judges on the new framework and creating fast-track traffic courts could prevent backlogs and maintain credibility.

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PUBLISHED ON Nov 29,2025 [ VOL 26 , NO 1335]

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