Hi stemians, welcome to my blog.
Today am going to talk about the common causes of road traffic accidents.
https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/car-accident-with-major-front-end-damage-picture-id157561077
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/car-crashed-into-a-lamp-post-royalty-free-image/119134518
No one 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 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 and wide. There was an oncoming vehicle, and the weather was clear. But the driver had apparently taken some alcohol before the journey. Only that could explain why he ran his car into the deep gorge where four of his six passenger died.
The culpability of that driver compares with that of another, a few years earlier. That was on the Malia-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, so why the pick-up van driver decided to overtake the trailer just there, where he could possibly see an oncoming vehicle until too late, beats ones 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 the reporters, and rescue workers got to the scene, we continually heard sympathizers 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 brake 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 remained 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 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 party in Odali. Starting out in Maliu, the parties speed off towards their destination some sixteen kilometer, 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 vehicle 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 and commission. And, invariably these acts lead to unnecessary loss of lives.
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