TITLE:
Atmosphere of Accidents along the Douala-Yaounde National Road in Cameroon: Hoofmarks, Drivers, Challenges and Proactive Options
AUTHORS:
Nnecdem Padison, Ojuku Tiafack
KEYWORDS:
Accidents, Douala-Yaounde National 3, Highway, Opportunities, Road Transport
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Transportation Technologies,
Vol.12 No.3,
June
28,
2022
ABSTRACT: Road transport and safety is a thorny problem in the
world today following the occurrence,
recrudescence and outcomes of accidents in our society. These accidents
are a public health hazard and vector of underdevelopment in developing countries amongst which is Cameroon.
According to the World Health Organisation, road accidents ranked 3rd in position among the leading causes of mortality in the world and caused
approximately 1.2 million deaths with 50 million people injured worldwide. The
frequency of accidents along National Road 3
linking Douala (the economic hub of the CEMAC region) and Yaounde (the
political Capital of Cameroon) remains a thorny problem. This is because 50 %
of accidents in the Southern part of Cameroon occur along this stretch of the
triangle of death necessitating sustainable strategies to effectively curb the
situation. Efforts both structural and non-structural have been put in place
over decades by the Cameroon government,
civil society organisations, Non-Governmental Organisations, local
communities, and other actors to contain the situation without success. This is
because the measures often target road users, the state of vehicles and repair
of existing roads. Along National Road 3, the poor state of the road in
combination with other risk factors has been identified as prime
factors that sustain accidents. This paper argues that the frequency of
accidents is high, impacts on man and property enormous and the solutions to
solve the problem ineffective. The methodology used for data production
exploits primary and secondary sources of data from works on road transport in
Cameroon, Africa and the world to assess the dynamics, outcomes, challenges and
options for road accidents control on the study site. These sources integrate
field surveys, administration of questionnaires, literature review and grey
data sources for their findings. The results show that until recent on
some roads little attention has been paid on proactive solutions visible in
other countries to combat road accidents. These are the creation of multi lanes
to reduce contact, investment on alternative transport modes and road
modernisation to decongest existing roads. How this innovation to curb road
carnage redresses the problem in question is also a focus of this paper.