Police launches campaign for accident-free 2023/2024 school year.

The campaign was flagged off Saturday September 2 in Yaounde. The campaign is tagged: “Road Safety and Prevention Campaign”. The Commander of the Regional Unit for Highway and Traffic Control, Senior Superintendent of Police, Adamou Baba, supervised the exercise.

According to Adamou, the drive comes amid a surge in road accidents witnessed across the country. The Senior Police Superintendent and his collaborators visited several inter-urban travel agencies. 

For over four hours, the team of security officials sensitised drivers on the need to respect the Highway Code. The drivers were also advised to shun alcohol while on the highway.

In the course of the field work, alcohol tests were ran on several drivers before they hit the road to several parts of the country. The road safety campaign launch was equally an opportunity for the Senior Police Superintendent to urge commercial motorbike riders to shun drugs.

Adamou Baba  said even commercial bikers are bound to exercise restrain as children begin flooding streets nationwide this Monday September 4 for schools. The police officer mentioned excess speed, drug, overloading and fatigue as issues drivers and bikers must guard against. He advised drivers and bikers to rest each time they are tired.

Passengers on their part were urged to report any signs of alcohol, overloading or over-speeding discovered in the course of their journeys to the competent authorities.

Speaking to reporters at the end of the first phase of the campaign, Senior Police Superintendent Adamou Baba noted that the campaign is being carried on the instructions of the Delegate General for National Security, Martin Mbarga Nguele.

“As schools reopen, we decided to put in place this campaign that will run for two weeks during which we will target other accident-risk zones,” he said.

One the involvement of bikers in the campaign, Adamou said, statistics show that commercial bike riders are involved in at least 80 percent of road accidents. With the weather constantly changing, he advised drivers and bikers to be more cautious.

Travelers hail Police initiative

Passengers and road users during the campaign hailed the initiative put in place by the police. They equally urged government to see into the bad state of some roads which are responsible for some of the accidents that have claimed lives.

A traveler who was headed for Douala as at the time the team was carrying out the sensitization urged authorities to sustain the crusade. Our respondent said the police initiative gives citizens hope that those in power care about their wellbeing of the population.

The Regional Regiment for the Highway and Traffic Control of the police is responsible for the control of access to urban areas. It also has as role, the surveillance of public roads and traffic as well as report on road accidents.