We Really Don't Have To Die

I have come to realize an appalling fact about Nigeria which is the scarily high level of needless deaths. So many of the deaths that occur daily are actually very avoidable but due to our total disregard for health and safety, they happen and thus increases the number of grief-stricken loved ones left behind.

The one most rampant and annoyingly needless cause of death is by road accident, which occurs usually due to reckless driving and disregard for the lives of others. Recently, a popular Nigerian blogger Linda Ikeji, has reported an alarming number of road accidents and it makes me shudder at the thought of the several others which goes unreported. I think it is high time the government steps in and takes the nforcement of road laws very very seriously. I know some commercial bus drivers drink alcohol as early as 6am in the morning before starting their day and therefore risking the lives of the hundreds of passengers they carry daily.

Google image of an accidented Danfo bus

Just the other night on my way home from a function, I saw a terrible accident involving a Danfo bus. The bus was hanging on top of the concrete road divider, it's passengers hurt and in shock. We were going to stop to help but two other Danfo buses had stopped to help, smack bang in the middle of the road so we were shunted to the last lane and therefore couldn't stop. I had to call the emergency number 767 immediately to send an ambulance to the scene. Day in day out, there are loads of horror stories by different people of the recklessness of these Danfo drivers.

I will not forget in a hurry, a Danfo accident I witnessed last year. It happened right in front of my car and I was really fortunate not to have been involved in the ensuing carnage. I saw cars smashed up, bodies flying in the air and limbs ripped off simply because the idiotic Danfo driver ran a red light. If my body had not gone into shock-mode upon witnessing that accident, I would have probably beaten the driver into a pulp. I was so traumatized and shocked by that incident that all I could usefully do at the scene was call the emergency number. The operator tried her best to console me because I was a traumatized wreck and I just could not understand why so many had to die and be injured because of the one selfish individual who could not wait for the green light.

It is not enough to formulate road law policies without actually implementing them, regardless of who breaks these laws. There are several ways of ensuring sanity on our roads and we need to start exploring these ways as soon as possible because for everyday we ignore the shenanigans of these reckless road users, our lives are actually in danger. By "our", I mean you and I and all other road users.