Summary: Common Causes of Road Accidents

          No one who got to the scene of the accident could possibly have left the place with dry cheeks. Even as a reporter, unrelated to any of the victims being slaughtered in their prime. I could not help wishing the driver had never been born. For this was one accident which needn’t ever have happened. The road was smooth, straight and wide. There was no oncoming vehicle, and the weather was clear. But the driver had apparently taken some alcohol before the journey. Only that could explain why ran his car into the deep gorge where four of his six passengers died.

          The culpability of that driver compares with that of another, a few years earlier. That was on the Maliu-Odali road. Again, the road was smooth, and the weather was bright. With all the road signs warning against speeding because of the narrow bridge and the sharp bend, someone with enough sense would at least have exercised enough restraint before overtaking another vehicle. So, why the pick-up van driver decided to overtake the trailer just there, where he could not possibly see an oncoming vehicle until too late, beats one’s imagination. As a result of his action, the oncoming minibus ran into his van, while the trailer itself climbed over the two vehicles. A total of twenty souls were lost.

          Later, when we the reporters and rescue workers got to the scene, we continually heard sympathisers saying that the road had become blood-thirsty. The apparent reference was to the incident in which three lives were lost a few weeks before. But I refuse to share their opinion. Roads do not suddenly decide to suck human blood. The incident referred to had claimed three lives because the car owner had decided to put a vehicle without brakes on the road. We knew this because his mechanic came to the scene, lamenting the man’s refusal to listen to his warning to repair the faulty brake. This explains clearly why the driver, on seeing the oncoming lorry in the middle of the bridge, could not hold back his own vehicle from heading towards the deep stream. He and his two friends died in the stream.

          I still refuse to hold that road responsible for the carnage on it even though I am reminded that it was on it that two young men lost their promising lives late last year. The circumstances leading to their demise should justify my opinion. Here there were two young undergraduates, each on holiday from their different institutions. Each one smuggled out his parent’s car, took friends and set out to attend their common friend’s birthday in Odali. Starting out in Maliu, the parties sped off towards their destination some sixteen kilometres away. They engaged in a game in which the two cars overtook each other at least twice within one kilometre, irrespective of the speed. This at least was apparent from the statement of the sole survivor of the six youths in the two cars. The game turned sour when the vehicles ran into each other and somersaulted during the process of overtaking.

          No, let us not catalogue the gory incidents any further. The reality of the matter is that accidents do not just happen. They are caused and initiated by man’s act of omission or commission. And, invariably these acts lead to unnecessary loss of lives.