A majority of the bike users in the capital city do not wear a helmet.

Solange Mvogo, an inhabitant living at the Montée des Soeurs neighbourhood in Yaounde tells Cameroon Tribune (CT) how riding on a motor-bike from Rond-Pont Express to the Mendong neighbourhood, almost cost her life and that of the bike rider because they did not put on a helmet.

When the motor-bike had a head-on-collision with an on-coming car, Solange said the outcome was drastic as she and the bike rider landed directly on the tarred road. If not of God, Solange said, “I would not have been alive today”. The wearing of a protective headgear by motorcycle riders or their passengers is rare in Yaounde. Amongst 100 commercial motorcycle riders, one can see in a day, hardly any of them has a helmet on, talk less of the passengers they carry.

Wearing a helmet or identification gadget is none of my business, says a motor-bike rider at the Mendong neighbourhood in Yaounde. “I do not even know why it is a must that I should wear a helmet”, a motorbike rider said. Although bike riders have been told that the primary goal of a motorcycle helmet is for safety - to protect the rider's head during impact, thus preventing or reducing head injury and saving the rider's life, the bike riders are yet to see why they should be obliged to put on a helmet when, according to them, they are just riding around a small limited area.

However, some motorbike users know the importance of a helmet and identification jackets, but such knowledge seems not to be taken into consideration. A majority of motorbike users do not use them. CT asked a motorbike rider, Moris M. if he knows that he must not ride with a passenger unless the passenger is wearing an approved motorcycle helmet? This question sounded funny to Moris as he laughed loudly while saying “My interest is to transport whoever seeks my service. I do not think twice on what a passenger is wearing”.

From all indications, most motorbike users do not know the importance of a helmet. Moris M explained that even when council workers call around to control the sector, they mostly talk about communal tax they need to pay and not how they can protect themselves in the sector. This certainly accounts for the high rate of deaths registered amongst motorcycle riders.

In the rare situations where a motorbike rider is seen with a helmet, it is usually not the appropriate one that provides additional conveniences, such as ventilation, face shields, ear protection or intercom in an accident situation. That is why at times such a helmet will even come out of the head of the user even before he/she reaches the ground in case of an accident. From all indications the motorcycle sector is a no-man’s-land as those in the sector just know that with a motorcycle they can do business even when putting their lives at risk.