Please Stop the Carnage
Wednesday 16th January 2008

As we continue to mourn the tragic deaths of those killed in Sunday’s motor accident we must endeavour to learn some lessons from it.

Anybody reading this will have, at some point, been in a vehicle that has either crashed or come very close to it. The causal factors are many but must be acknowledged and addressed.

Top of the list is the state of the nation’s roads. Those roads which are surfaced are in such a state of disrepair as to force drivers of both ‘gele-geles’ and taxis to swerve and veer wildly to avoid the potholes which would cause damage to their vehicles. It is difficult to blame these drivers as they depend on their vehicles for their livelihoods and must do everything to avoid having to have them undergo expensive repairs. This leads them to take these dangerous risks.

This does not however excuse bad driving which, many will agree, is rampant in The Gambia. This raises the issue of driver education. Because cars are such a common sight it is very easy to forget that, in the wrong hands, they are lethal weapons. We would not dream of boarding a plane with a pilot who was not properly trained. Why then do we so freely get into motor cars with people who have clearly not been properly trained to drive them?

What is more disturbing is that many of these incompetent drivers drive at excessive speeds thus further endangering the lives of both other drivers and pedestrians through their foolhardiness.

Dangerous driving costs lives and it is the responsibility of the Government to protect the lives of its people.

 Simple laws, which are properly enforced, would save many lives if they were introduced. Recent studies have shown that driving while talking on a mobile phone is as dangerous as driving while under the influence of alcohol. Therefore measures should be taken to stamp out the practice.

Laws are however only the first step. Once these laws have been introduced they must be stringently policed in order to save lives.

Vehicles that are not roadworthy must be identified and taken off the road by the authorities. Unfortunately last Sunday’s accident seems to have resulted from two very avoidable issues. According to the officer in charge of the accident, Corporal Musa Njie of Brikama annex, on approaching the crowd the driver of the firewood-laden truck applied his brakes but they failed to hold and, as he tried to swerve to the right to avoid the crowd, he could not do so owing to the high speed at which his vehicle was going.

Brakes that did not fulfill their function, and speed that could not be controlled, combined in leaving many families needlessly engulfed in grief this week.

There are, dotted along the roadside, many signs warning of the dangers of speeding; so it is clear that the Government is aware of this scourge. What must become more obvious in the coming years is the intention of the Government to take strong, deliberate and effective steps to reduce the number of citizens dying on our roads. This must lead us to ask just how many people are dying as a result of road accidents every year? If we are not made aware of the scale of the problem, and drivers are not educated to be aware of the dangerous nature of their vehicles, then people will continue to die.

Everybody appreciates that the Government is not in possession of a bottomless pit of money to invest in expensive road infrastructure but there are other simple steps which can be taken. Driver education, the banning of mobile phone use while driving, and the inspection of all vehicles thoroughly and regularly are just some of the ways that future tragedies can be avoided. Of course the government can only do so much. Every driver must take personal responsibility and always remember the potential destructive power of the vehicle he or she is driving.
  
CRIME WATCH

The police are asking the general public to call any of the following telephone numbers: 

112 / 99 66 967 / 99 60 109 / 99 76 012 / 99 76 008 / 99 76 010 to report anyone suspected or caught engaged in criminal activities.