Officials in the road safety department of the National Gendarmerie have again been deployed to some highways to create awareness on the need for Cameroonian roads to be safe from accidents and check defaulters. This, in response to calls from the population and transport syndicates for the repressive road safety campaign to dissuade those who violate the Highway Code. Launched by the National Gendarmerie on June 6, the campaign is in its seventh edition. However, it is the first that the Yaounde-Ayos stretch towards Bertoua in the East Region of Cameroon hosting a five-day series of checks.

Thus, Elat, a neighbourhood 30 km from Yaounde in the Ayos Sub-Division, witnessed a different atmosphere on December 14 with an influx of gendarmerie officials at the start of the campaign. As if that was not enough, their presence and activity became a crowd puller. “I admit my faults but I can say without remorse that I was putting on my security belt,” Lucien Zang Foumane, a driver said loudly, admitting that he could only pay fines for crimes committed. “I admit that I don’t have a first-aid box and for that, I am ready to pay the FCFA-3600 fine,” he added.

Sebastien Eteme, on his part, said rather calmly that he was cognisant of the gravity of his offence and was ready to comply by the rules. His crime was the lack of a valid insurance. “Instead of the normal, 29 passengers, I admit I have 32,” hinted Jean Antoine Essomba, adding that he knew, his vehicle did not possess any first-aid box.  Overloading, lack of first-aid boxes, poor state of vehicles and over-speeding are therefore some of the offences gendarmerie officials are battling against on Cameroon’s highways. “If the campaign could last two months continuously, I am convinced that this country will record more strides in the quest to have our roads free of fatal accidents while wooing more investors,” said another driver, caught in the trap.

“An accident remains an accident irrespective of the road, and road signs remain same and must be respected,” underscored Francis Tantan, Commander of “Operation Golf,” the special unit in charge of the repressive road safety campaign along the Yaounde-Bertoua highway. “We are here to make sure that Cameroonians move freely without any feeling of insecurity,” he added. He further explained that the two teams deployed to control high speed, overloading, safety belts, first-aid boxes and the state of vehicles. “Few vehicles ply this stretch without any problem. Out of ten, only three can go without offences,” Francis Tantan hinted. Compared to the “triangle of death,” Francis Tantan explained that the Yaounde-Bertoua highway is void of dense circulation yet, the same offences abound. A similar exercise is taking place along the Yaounde-Sangmelima-Ebolowa highway, in the South Region of the country.