Alarming: 3,413 road accidents kill 256, injure 254 in six months!.

This, they say, is due to the disturbing number of lives that have been lost and others maimed recently, through road accidents on the country’s ailing, deteriorating, broken and narrow highways. 

Road accidents, others have expressed the fear, have more than tripled within this summer holiday period due to the busy nature of major highways, repeatedly described by disgruntled citizens as footpaths or death traps.       

The disturbing development is that which has seen many Cameroonians who have lost love ones and breadwinners, cursing the CPDM government for failure to construct good roads, maintain or even expand those constructed decades back. 

The worsening situation on the country’s national roads is staring at government in the face, especially as the regime is caught in a web of procrastination and lack of proper follow-up on major road projects that could change the situation for the better.

Alarming cases of accidents, deaths in six moths

Aside the recent frightening cases of accidents on the major highways, what has emerged scarier and even preoccupying, is the number of road accidents which have been recorded in the country, just in the last six months. 

Based on statistics from the police and gendarmerie, as reported by state broadcaster, CRTV, during its 3 p.m. newscast on Monday July 15, an alarming number of 3,413 road accidents have been recorded from January 1 to July 1 this year. 

The disturbing number of accidents, the statistics from the security services further disclosed, led to 256 deaths and 254 injured. 

The accidents, the security services also detailed, led to 2,570 cases of material damage, 635 persons affected in 208 of the accidents, which were fatal. 

The rising figures have surged, despite efforts made by the government through the road safety teams of the Ministry of Transport and sensitisation and repression efforts made by the National Gendarmerie. 

Roads linking the nation’s economic capital, Douala, to the nation’s capital city, Yaounde, as well as the West Regional capital city, Bafoussam, have been identified as death-traps where accidents are recurrent. 

Aside the bad nature of the roads, many state officials have also attributed the increasing number of deaths on the major roads to over speeding, reckless driving, and incivility on the part of road users. 

Fruits of measures to curb accidents 

Security services have disclosed that in a bid to curb the rising trend, a series of measures have been taken. 

Police officials have carried out "hit and run" operations based on a previously drawn-up threat map, the banning of motorcycle taxis, and the surveillance of certain routes linking major cities.

The multiple operations aimed at restoring some order on major roads, officials revealed, have resulted in the arrest of 9,550 individuals, seizure of 72 cell phones, 112 firearms and 1,112 munitions; 438 kilogrammes of cannabis, over 2 tonnes and 2,634 strands of cannabis, 80 small packets of the hard drug commonly known as "caillou" and "thaï"; 35 pipettes of cocaine, 124 sachets of cocaine. 

In addition, 1,821 motorcycles and 910 litres of smuggled fuel were seized, nearly 4,087,900 FCFA were recovered from criminals, and 43 cases of suspicious death were recorded nationwide. 

Transporters disrespecting sanctions 

In recent months, the Minister of Transport, Jean Ernest Massena Ngalle Bibehe, has issued a series of sanctions on transport agencies as well as drivers involved in road accidents.

Unfortunately, most of the agencies have been unable to respect the sanctions meted out by the member of government. Some have gone as far as still operating with buses not carrying their name tags. 

Tougher measures underway 

Speaking while opening the first semester conference of Regional Governors, the Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji, blamed the rising rate of road accidents on reckless driving. 

The member of government threatened to, in collaboration with his peer of the Ministry of Transport alongside security services, to use draconian measures to bring order on major highways. 

He sounded the warning while establishing the link between heavy-duty trucks and ugly occurrences on roads nationwide.

“Drivers of heavy-duty vehicles transporting goods, trucks carrying timber, sand and gravel, are often guilty of over-speeding, poor overtaking and drunk-driving. This recklessness is wreaking havoc on our roads,” Atanga Nji Paul declared.

The MINAT boss disclosed that “administrative authorities will be obliged to issue orders as they did in 2007, to restrict the use of heavy-duty vehicles on certain roads”.

Atanga Nji, however, specified that those who demonstrate defiance will be arrested and tried in a court of law.

More efforts still needed to reduce trend 

In an outing in 2021, the Minister of Transport, had acknowledged that the campaign to sensitise road users to curb accidents is succeeding, but more efforts need to be put in.

He had revealed in an interview with CRTV that the number of deaths on highways decreased from 1,091 in 2015 to 937 in 2019. 

The figure, he had disclosed, represented a reduction rate of 31% in the rate of road accidents. 

Steps towards curbing accidents 

The member of government, it should be said, had over the years blamed repeated cases of road accidents on human factor, the road worthiness of the vehicles and the state of the roads.  He had disclosed that disrespect of speed limit has the highest rate of 35% for defaulters. 

Addressing the shortcomings, the minister said the ministry had acquired radars, electronic alcohol test material, among other instruments that were deployed on roads. 

The Director of Road Transport in the Ministry of Transport, Divine Mbamome Nkendong, had, in an outing on CRTV in 2021, disclosed that two-thirds of road accidents recorded on highways involving youth can be attributed to the use of mobile phones while driving as well as excessive speeding.

He had said going by studies conducted by the ministry, the death of the breadwinner of a family through road accident “imposes 23 years of misery on that family. Road accidents cost our economy”. 

“From 2011, we had about 100 billion FCFA which the government lost every year owing to road accidents. By 2020, it had moved to about 800 billion FCFA. You can imagine the number of classrooms and referral hospitals this money could construct with that sum,” Mbamome had noted, while reiterating the need for all hands to be put on deck to curb the trend. 

He had also disclosed that the ministry has sought advanced solution to employ the use of technology to reduce road accidents. 

Mbamome had said the system makes use of cameras and censors that monitor a range of aspects, including vehicle speed and drivers’ behaviours, sending feedback to a control panel.

In addition to monitoring drivers’ performance, the system, he added, also reads obstacles and speed.

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue No:3171 of Wednesday July 17, 2024