Menace Of Articulated Trucks

Earlier this week, Accra witnessed a gory accident within one of the city�s outskirts. It was one of those accidents referred to as freaky by the nature of their oddness and unusualness.

Unlike accidents occurring on highways, it happened in the city, attracting, expectedly, a large crowd by not only the fatality but the weirdness of it all as well.

A 40-footer container on an articulated truck fell on a bus and smashed it, killing the driver on the spot. Indeed, it could have been worse but for Providence. People stood by helplessly unable to do anything to save the driver who had been smashed in addition to his bus. It was a reflection of how easy such mishaps can lead to fatalities and expose our inability to make our roads safe.

It reminds us about some deluges which have claimed many lives in the past few years including 2011. We are light years away from adequately applying safety measures in the country.

While our responses to such anomalies when they occur are below average, we do not also manage our intra city vehicular movement to reduce the risks of accidents.

Many articulated trucks ply our city roads so easily that it would appear the large 40 or so footer containers they bear are sufficiently secured on the vehicles.

We recall the Police reaction to a similar articulated truck accident around Dzorwulu, when the container it was conveying from one point to another tipped and fell on a taxi which happened to be on its side at the time of the accident.

When news of the fatalities resonated around the city and beyond, the Police conducted a major operation to ensure that such container-bearing trucks secure their cargoes properly and sufficiently.

It was an exercise which lasted for a few weeks or perhaps a month, only to stop abruptly as though a certain order of sorts had been issued to have the operation terminated.

These days, motorists with knowledge about the possibility of such cargoes falling, when they are close to such trucks, manouvre to drive off if possible to avoid bloody eventualities.

While we might not be adequately resourced to construct bypasses for such trucks to use and therefore avoid the business districts of our cities, we would point out the practice in major Nigerian cities. In Kaduna for instance, such trucks do not ply the city�s routes but use special bypasses, avoiding the city centre.

While we might not be able to indulge in this expensive venture at this stage of our development, we could ensure that such trucks terminate their trips outside the cities so smaller vehicles can convey their contents to their destinations in the city.

If the foregone might not be possible now, we could look at the possibility of having the Police embark upon a major operation to ensure that articulated trucks strap their containers with appropriate straps.

Indeed, we are convinced that if the Police are encouraged to undertake the mission, some sanity would be instilled in the way these trucks manage the containers which they carry, especially since some of them are so loosely secured that this is not difficult to discern.

Since most of these articulated trucks originate from the Tema Port, the exercise can start from that end.

Source: Editorial (D-Guide)