The Inspector General in the Ministry of Transport, Grâce Essombé, has told managers of long distance bus companies meeting in Yaounde that vehicles should not be used as instruments of death, but for construction. She was speaking on behalf of the Minister of State, Minister of Transport, yesterday April 4 as she chaired the opening of a two-day workshop to train and sensitise managers of mass transit companies plying the Yaounde-Douala-Yaounde and Douala-Bafoussam high ways, on how to plan, monitor and efficiently manage the activities of drivers. To effectively reduce the number of ghastly car accidents on the country’s highways, Essombé recommended diligence, responsibility and a participative approach from managers to guarantee safety.
Some participants at the workshop argued that the non-existence of a public driving school is the root cause of accidents in the country. The General Manager of Vatican Express, Simon Melo, said the laissez-faire attitude of driving schools has contributed to the illegal acquisition of driver’s licences. He hinted at another bone of contention, which is the alleged absence of follow-up of road safety campaigns. “If officials in charge can take it as a point of duty to control and even carry out unannounced checks on buses, they will be able to crack down on managers who overwork drivers. There are drivers who are paid according to the number of passengers transported and it requires the diligence of transport officials to be able to get hold of some of these unscrupulous drivers and managers,” Melo regretted. The need for collective effort to fight road accidents is therefore primordial. Government, businessmen and drivers are therefore required to work in total synergy to put a halt to the numerous road accidents on the country’s highways.
That notwithstanding, the two-day workshop, participants say, is coming as a reawakening to build the capacity of managers. White Dove Company, working with the Ministry of Transport to implement the National Strategy on Road Safety, said human factor is the root cause of road accidents and the focus of managers should be on the lives they carry and not on the financial activity as most tend to think. Guy Ngamy, General Manager of White Dove Company said 12 other refresher courses for professional drivers in duly recognised bus companies have been planned and are due to begin from next Thursday in Yaounde. Others will hold in Douala and Bafoussam.
