A great Boipuso, except for the trucks
Mmegi Editor | Friday October 4, 2013 17:29
Without suggesting any familiarity with the occult or transcendental powers, those who perished in the accident may never know what happened on what became an ill-starred day for them while those who sustained serious injuries will have to live with their pain or disability.
The little that is known about the accident is that it involved the bus and a truck. Which brings us to ask what is the trouble with trucks and why authorities do not seem to take notice? Just two months ago, several people were killed in Kumakwane in an accident involving a bus and a truck.
Police investigations subsequently found that the truck was overtaking a string of vehicles at high speed when the accident happened. If they do not claim lives, trucks cost the economy dearly when they empty their cargo - including toxins and inflammables - on to the road. In really ghoulish accidents, they do both - end lives and destroy invaluable goods, that is. When that happens, it sets off a chain of sorrow, losses, reluctant indemnities and protracted compensation claims and begrudged payouts. The point is that the list is endless of trucks, including loaded articulated monsters that jerknife in the middle of the road, causing mayhem and bedlam.
This goes on despite the existence of strict laws and regulations that are regularly amended for tightening, but truck drivers continue to display their callous and careless attitude towards their fellow road users, especially pedestrians and those in smaller vehicles. It is not unusual to see a truck lumbering at great speed in a section where there is a high concentration or movement of people, or a heavily-laden articulated truck overtaking along a single lane road despite the road signs prohibiting that. Many of us have miraculously survived the bright lights of a murderous truck that come bearing down on you like some crazed UFO in the middle of the night. Yet laws and regulations have been made and tightened for use in a country that wants to think of itself as caring for life and limb and upholding the rule of law.
Even so, the peace that largely prevailed throughout our independence celebrations is an indication that we can return to the basics and behave like a civilised society that does not have to be watched over at all times. Of course, the presence of the police on the streets and the roads, in addition to the safety campaigns mounted by the relevant authorities, evidently had a salutary effect on most of us. Le kamoso, bagaetsho!
Today's thought
'Celebrate what you want to see more of.'
- Tom Peters