How can overloading on bikes be stopped in Cameroon?

Ngalle Bibehe, Cameroon’s Minister of Transport, has launched a campaign to fight overloading on motorcycles in the country.

The digital campaign, according to the Transport Minister, is aimed at reducing the number of accidents due to overloading on motorcycles.

Some bike riders, commonly called okada riders in Cameroon, can be seen carrying four or even five passengers.

This explains why Minister Bibehe launched a campaign with the slogans: “Overloading is a danger!” and “It’s better to arrive late than never.”

“It is better to start now than never because this is the first time that the Ministry is deploying a digital campaign at the start of the school year, asking the general public to help implement it,” Martial Manfred Missimikim, executive director of the Road Safety Non-governmental Organisation(NGO) Securoute who saluted the ministerial gesture said.

“We are in solidarity with this message and encourage the ministry to make these tools available to us so that we can carry out displays in public places and the far corners of the country,” Missimikim went on.

According to the Ministry of Transport, the initiative will teach pupils and students how to avoid overloading on motorcycles.

Statistics show, overloading is one of the leading causes of road accidents in Cameroon.

According to a UN report on road safety in Cameroon published in 2018, taxi drivers are the cause of many road accidents. This is because they either do not know or refuse to put into practice the road safety rules.

Image: African News