The Easter weekend has, fortunately, not recorded many accidents compared to what obtained in a not-too-distant past.

Coincidentally, the Minister of transport has been out in the Regions preaching to whoever would listen, the good news about road safety. He was recently in the South Region and was expected to carry his campaign to the West Region beginning from yesterday.

But as the Minister was in the South, some shocking road accidents occurred with one between Doume and Dimako in the East Region, particularly deadly. The accident registered some nine dead on the spot and as we go to press the number could even be on the rise.  The timing of the accident, if it should be referred to as such, and the Minister’s tour calls for a revisiting of the entire strategy to reduce – and even possibility eradicate the occurrence – of road accidents on the nation’s highways.

Following the accident in the east, the Minister issued a stern warning to the transport company which many considered as falling short of the necessary vigorousness needed in the present circumstances. The minister admitted that the bus driver was not a first-time offender and acknowledged the complicity of the bus owners in the decried conduct of the bus drivers; but all the bus company went away with was this warning, with suspension only considered as an option for the future.

We are all too used to these warnings and their very little effect on driving habits, otherwise one would have noticed even a modicum of change by way of a reduction in the number of accidents, especially those involving the loss of life.

Counselling and threats have shown their limits and are manifestly not the answer to the growing ill. Only repressive action can change trends. And this is clearly shown by the results which the National Gendarmerie recently published, indicating a steady drop in the number of road mishaps. The Gendarmerie strategy of checks and on-the-spot fines has paid off.

Non road-worthy vehicles are consistently put off the road and only resume circulation when all that is required of them is done and testified by the law-enforcement agencies. Just imagine the situation if the Ministry of Transport could follow suit! The worrisome situation calls for a change in strategy and decision-makers in the transport ministry ought to put themselves in an “action-now” posture. Results will certainly not take long in coming.