Motorists and pedestrians in Kanifing, namely Mamadi Manjang Highway, Westfield- Tippa Garage, and Kairaba Avenue have varying testimonies to render about what they have suffered and continue to do at the hands of unruly motorcyclists.
The testimonies are anything but complimentary, and they attest to the level of indiscipline on our roads, motorcyclists being contributors.
The failure of our police to implement an indiscipline campaign against riders has been a challenge to people going to work in the morning also causing sorts in the number of related accidents, which is not good, more needs to be done.
We are calling on the police to launch a new campaign to control this indiscipline in our society, especially in KMC.
We further that there should be consistency in the campaign and no interference from some quarters, which can dampen the resolve of law enforcement personnel.
Motorcycle accidents have claimed many lives across the country, but in Kanifing and West Coast where the commercialisation of this means of the transport system is now a major feature on our roads, the subject has become even more worrying.
We have now come to accept commercial motorcycling or Okada as part of our private transport system regardless of the law outlawing it. This acceptance has come with its challenges because many of the riders apart from not being conversant with traffic regulations do not also have the skills to ensure their own safety and pillion riders.
It is a known fact that pillion riders suffer more injuries and even fatalities than the riders, yet this new feature on our intracity roads has hardly been checked; the way we are seeing it in recent times is however encouraging.
A story in this issue points out that the government was not going to renew the license okada as of the end of December 2022.
It is amazing that pillion riders even encourage the main riders to speed when that is a dangerous thing to do under the circumstances.
The impression sometimes we get is that motorbikes motorised as they are and almost at par with automobiles are not subject to traffic regulations and so can drive anyhow with reckless abandon.
Sometimes they use pedestrian pavements, and persons walking on these places earmarked for those walking to use give them way lest they are knocked down.
There must be a halt to such indiscipline, and a campaign to stop the trend, which is a shared responsibility between law enforcement and others.
There are still many motorbikes in the country with no registration numbers and, therefore, difficult to trace in case of rampant accidents. The young men who ride motorbikes often flee accident scenes when they can, and with no registration numbers, they cannot be tracked. These constitute some of the indiscipline on the part of motorcyclists in KMC and the West Coast especially. We expect the police to change the tide and restore sanity on our roads.
