Public Transport Buses: Safety is top concern

Holiday makers are increasing filling travel agencies, making the need for better security measures imperative.

Among the three most killers in the country, road accidents tops chart followed by malaria and HIV/AIDS. Some 3,500 accidents occur nationwide each year causing on average 13,000 deaths; 82 per cent caused by drivers, according to the Ministry of Transport.

Going by the World Bank, 12 people of ages five to twenty-nine are victims of road accidents in the country yearly, since 2010. At least one person dies every second the world over of malaria. In Cameroon, HIV/AIDS prevalence stands at about five per cent.

Their consequences can be better imagined if considered together. The surge in road accidents is a consequence of many factors, well known to owners of public transport buses in Douala, Yaounde and Bafoussam. The most killer roads, according to the Bank, are the Douala-Yaounde-Bafoussam highway with over 60 per cent and about 50 per cent on the Yaounde-Douala stretch.

It states that FCFA 100 billion was lost to road accidents in 2008, and projects some FCFA 200 billion to be lost in 2015 with an estimated 7,000 people to be wounded and disabled. As agencies teem with holiday makers, the question of security or safety is back on the minds of every well thinking Douala inhabitant.

Although interurban travel agencies at Douche Municipal and most in Mboppi may have the public think that safety means securing new buses and placing private security agents at bus stations, far from it new buses only provide comfort and reduce stress and sometimes breakdowns. Security agents may help limit stealing but not road accident.

The Ministry of Transport has not been silent altogether. Its officials in Douala have called for basic security measures based on avoiding driving recklessly, driving while having drunk alcohol, absence of regular technical visits and overhauling, and the overworking of drivers. During our visit to a public transport agency in Akwa, drivers were being examined for alcohol, those proved positive were sent back home and will not be allowed to drive that day.

Cheugoue Beatrice, manager of a travel agency, organises sessions at the end of every three months to update drivers on the Highway Code. However, none of the travel agencies visited has paid any particular attention to health security. Toilets often experience dry taps, poor care, stink, lack soap to ensure the common hand washing hygiene; though dubbed ‘public’ the toilets are anything short of amenities that mark public toilets.